Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference, 2000, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Paper

Although the true extent of crashes involving company vehicles is unclear in the UK, it is known to be disproportionately high and a major financial and human cost. This paper summarises recent UK-based research into company vehicle reporting, investigation and recording. 50+ companies were interviewed and a new reporting, investigation and recording system developed and pilottested. Current systems tend to include pre-crash information, at-scene information, post-crash procedures and crash analysis. They are strong on claims management, but weak on investigation and risk analysis. Poor quality reporting, few comparable standards or key performance indicators (KPIs), regulation falling between or outside of several Government agencies and no formalised system of auditing company performance are problems. The paper recommends that the pilot study should continue in a small number of case study companies to identify further system improvements and the change management processes required for wider implementation. A crash reporting and recording self-audit and KPIs are proposed, to allow companies to identify ‘where they are now’ and areas for improvement.