company car drivers
Friday 17th May 2002
Company Car Safety Code
Rospa urges employers to think about their drivers
Discussion
used to work for a company { schlumbeger} that made all employees take a defenisive driving course , while what i thought what they taught was uuter shite { not using engine braking amd only brakes to slow down , the stupid bird told me i'd use more fuel dropping gears!} i think it is a good idea that peolpe with company cars should have to take some form of tution to asses there driving and also there abilty to do journey management and aviod driving for long periods.
In fact Schlumbeger has sacked managers for allowing peolpe to drive for more than 2 1/2hour periods
They also offer to pay car insurance for peolpe willing to have the black box tachometer fitted to thier car
what do you think ?
is forward thinking or infringement on people's rights ?
In fact Schlumbeger has sacked managers for allowing peolpe to drive for more than 2 1/2hour periods
They also offer to pay car insurance for peolpe willing to have the black box tachometer fitted to thier car
what do you think ?
is forward thinking or infringement on people's rights ?
I joined out of Rospa because they are a bunch of spineless bastards. If my employer asked me to have telemetry fitted to my vehicle I would leave. Nothing wrong with a bit of extra driver training though. I think if I had a female tutor though i would do my Harry Enfield impression. " Ah weel at least you are getting into the right side of the car dear" etc etc. If the silly green tart started on about fuel consumption I would question her competance.
Rant on Once again big brother wants to have total control of our lives. Who won the cold war? Some of the bizzare ideas that are bandied around this country these days is straight out of 1950's USSR.
Why are company car drivers targeted again? I would have thought the high mileage these people do in a year would lead to better driving due to more experience.
I would have thought that the highest risk group are the 'occaisional' drivers, i.e. Mrs Patel in her Nissan Micra driving at 45 Mph in the middle lane of the M25.
Higher standards of driving tests and motorway tests are the way to reduce accidents IMO. It amazes me that you can drive on dangerous motorways with no knowledge of how to use them.
Jas
Why are company car drivers targeted again? I would have thought the high mileage these people do in a year would lead to better driving due to more experience.
I would have thought that the highest risk group are the 'occaisional' drivers, i.e. Mrs Patel in her Nissan Micra driving at 45 Mph in the middle lane of the M25.
Higher standards of driving tests and motorway tests are the way to reduce accidents IMO. It amazes me that you can drive on dangerous motorways with no knowledge of how to use them.
Jas
quote:
I would have thought that the highest risk group are the 'occaisional' drivers, i.e. Mrs Patel in her Nissan Micra driving at 45 Mph in the middle lane of the M25.
it was one of these Fcukwits that could have quite easily ended my life if i did react the way i did
These are the ones that need all the extra training (or banned from the road and made to use public transport IMHO)
Again like you say its the big brother thing
I see it this way. Company car drivers have their indestructable heads on whilst working with a F@ck you attitude. Other drivers just havn't a clue. Of coarse I am a perfect driver and never make mistakes. 
As for black box thingy's, its bound to happen, just a matter of time. Not that I like it.
As for black box thingy's, its bound to happen, just a matter of time. Not that I like it.
So why is it supposed to make pig's burp worth of diffrence that my car is paid for by my employer? I do f**k all business miles if I can help it - especially since we've stopped this farce of having to do as many miles as you can to keep your tax down.
I've done the sums and it's more cost effective (still ,just) for me to take the car rather than the money and buy my own so that's what I do. It gets looked after just the same (probably better) and driven just the same as if it was my own.
If you want to put a data recorder in the car it will last 5 milliseconds before I smash the f**ker (oh sorry Mr fleet manager, I didn't notice it was broken, the kids must have been fiddling with it)
If you want to send me on a driving course fine - as long as it's fun.
If what you're really talking about is "professional" drivers who pound up and down all day for a living then by all means train them properly. In fact, start with HGV drivers who vary from the clearly very competent to the suicidally stupid (trust me - if you are five feet from my bumper and I have cause to hit my four-wheel ventilated disk brakes hard you ARE going to hit me and I WILL take out a civil action for attempted murder, assuming I survive, f**kwit) and bus drivers who seem to think that the "please give way to the bus" sticker gives them the divine right to swerve through lanes of traffic, pull out without signalling as you're overtaking them and any number of other dumb, dangerous things.
Then when you've sorted out all these arseholes, by all means start on the poor rep. in his Mondeo
I've done the sums and it's more cost effective (still ,just) for me to take the car rather than the money and buy my own so that's what I do. It gets looked after just the same (probably better) and driven just the same as if it was my own.
If you want to put a data recorder in the car it will last 5 milliseconds before I smash the f**ker (oh sorry Mr fleet manager, I didn't notice it was broken, the kids must have been fiddling with it)
If you want to send me on a driving course fine - as long as it's fun.
If what you're really talking about is "professional" drivers who pound up and down all day for a living then by all means train them properly. In fact, start with HGV drivers who vary from the clearly very competent to the suicidally stupid (trust me - if you are five feet from my bumper and I have cause to hit my four-wheel ventilated disk brakes hard you ARE going to hit me and I WILL take out a civil action for attempted murder, assuming I survive, f**kwit) and bus drivers who seem to think that the "please give way to the bus" sticker gives them the divine right to swerve through lanes of traffic, pull out without signalling as you're overtaking them and any number of other dumb, dangerous things.
Then when you've sorted out all these arseholes, by all means start on the poor rep. in his Mondeo
I'm not a company car driver as I take the cash allowance instead. However if I was offered additional driver training by my company I'd take it like a shot.
When I was in the car scheme I remember that as a company we were effectively self-insured for all but thefts and write-offs - we had a £10,000 insurance excess!! The reason for this was a claims to car ratio of something like 200% - on average 2 claims on every vehicle every year!
Driver training surely could not hurt - and in this case I think the stats speak for themselves - this bunch of company car drivers were certainly well above average risk!
When I was in the car scheme I remember that as a company we were effectively self-insured for all but thefts and write-offs - we had a £10,000 insurance excess!! The reason for this was a claims to car ratio of something like 200% - on average 2 claims on every vehicle every year!
Driver training surely could not hurt - and in this case I think the stats speak for themselves - this bunch of company car drivers were certainly well above average risk!
ranters...the average 'accident' rate for company car drivers is 25%...thats right...a quarter of reps crash their cars EVERY YEAR. In my experience about 95% of HGV drivers are VERY, VERY good at what they do....the number of people I have chattd to who say 'they get so close to my bumper' only to witness Mr 'Ive got a TVR so Im clever' nipping in just before their turn off on a motorway, 10 feet in front of something weighing 18 tons defies belief... People who drive a lot of miles seem to have the mentality "I drive a lot so I must be good" - what a load of toss quite frankly. On the whole they're complacent and arrogant and constantly dashing to their next meeting for their incentivised bonus.
I agree that 'occaisional drivers' are generally bloody awful - but often in more 'oh, for F**ks sake get out of my you dawdling muppet'.....
I think the government SHOULD force companies to take responsibility for their drivers, and if that means extra traing - good on em. The tracker is just irrelevant though....
I agree that 'occaisional drivers' are generally bloody awful - but often in more 'oh, for F**ks sake get out of my you dawdling muppet'.....
I think the government SHOULD force companies to take responsibility for their drivers, and if that means extra traing - good on em. The tracker is just irrelevant though....
quote:
When I was in the car scheme I remember that as a company we were effectively self-insured for all but thefts and write-offs - we had a £10,000 insurance excess!! The reason for this was a claims to car ratio of something like 200% - on average 2 claims on every vehicle every year!
I think this says it all! Also, it MUST make a difference to your driving knowing that YOU don't have to pay for any accident damage. With every respect to sensible co.car drivers (like SteveH), it is statistically* true that most motorway morons are driving a rep-mobile.
I'm also guessing that the worse your driving record, the more your insurance premiums, and hence the better deal you get from a company motor.
Company cars are a baaaad idea (even with the tax incentives for miles removed).
(*i.e. from incidents that I've noted!)
>> Edited by mattc on Monday 20th May 12:03
quote:
In my experience about 95% of HGV drivers are VERY, VERY good at what they do
I would strongly dispute the 95% figure. I'm sure there are plenty of good ones but sitting too close is the norm, particularly in slow moving motorway traffic. If you're in lane 1 or 2 in a tailback you almost invariably get an HGV just a few feet from your bumper and there's f**k all you can do about it except leave even more space in front of you (which seems to upset them even more as they push you to close the gap)and hope like hell you don't have to brake suddenly. It scares me absolutely s**tless. There's no need for it, it's stupid and it's dangerous. I'm sure part of it is that with a flat fronted vehicle the driver can look down and judge the gap to within a fraction of an inch and they think they're soooo clever, but don't think that they may have to stop.
Even is freely moving trafic they usually try to kill each other by driving a few feet apart. At least in a car with decent performance you can get away from them in most cases.
And finally. Two (or three on 4-lane motorways) HGVs with speed limiters side by side, mile after mile after mile as they overtake with a speed differential restricted to the error between their limiters, reducing a motorway to a single lane and the maximum speed to that of the terrified grey in a Micra who ventures into the outside lane and crawls past.
And then you come to a hill.....
Get the f**king railways fixed and get some freight onto them
How about allowing HGV's the use of the inside and middle lanes between certain times (like, night time ?). If they were restricted like this, then it would unclog the motorways in an instant.
Slightly more extreme would to ban them on motorways during the day.
Agree with the rilway sentiment though. Surely you could have regional railfreight terminals where the HGV's could transport their respective wares from ?
Slightly more extreme would to ban them on motorways during the day.
Agree with the rilway sentiment though. Surely you could have regional railfreight terminals where the HGV's could transport their respective wares from ?
HGVs are, IMO, no better or worse driven than any other vehicles onthe road. Trouble is the size of the ba5tards means any other, smaller vehicle the tangles with them is in deep 5hit.
My girlf' has had the car she's driving bent twice by HGV's - both their fault - and is lucky. You see plenty of other cars that aren't so lucky.
With regard to lane useage - and my what a block two artics can cause when one decides it has to overtake the other using a 5 mph speed difference - the Gremans ban trucks from using anything other than the inside lane on certain stretches of Autobahn. Seems like a good compromise, and this could be flexibly applied to suit traffic levels etc.
My girlf' has had the car she's driving bent twice by HGV's - both their fault - and is lucky. You see plenty of other cars that aren't so lucky.
With regard to lane useage - and my what a block two artics can cause when one decides it has to overtake the other using a 5 mph speed difference - the Gremans ban trucks from using anything other than the inside lane on certain stretches of Autobahn. Seems like a good compromise, and this could be flexibly applied to suit traffic levels etc.
Why is it these days that an HGV signalling to pull out of lane 1 means he is going to pull out in front of you regardless of speed differential etc. Indicators used to be used to signal an intention, now they seem to be used as a warning 'I am about to cut you up and drive next to my mate here for the next 2 miles'.
As for company car drivers, there are 2 types, the high miler sales type, a large part of whose salary depends on how many packs of tights they can sell in a day, hence 'forcing' them to drive like tw@ts and do 300 miles a day.
Then there are those of us for whom a company car is part of the package, it's cheaper to offer a car than money for a lot of companies, and for me, the costs in tax etc. for my car are less than buying and running a car myself.
I asked my company's car fleet department if I could go on a driver training day - was told the insurance won't cover it, then when pushed they told me "all our comany drivers are responsible and don't need any training", but I'm a company driver and I would like some training, "it's not comany policy".
As for company car drivers, there are 2 types, the high miler sales type, a large part of whose salary depends on how many packs of tights they can sell in a day, hence 'forcing' them to drive like tw@ts and do 300 miles a day.
Then there are those of us for whom a company car is part of the package, it's cheaper to offer a car than money for a lot of companies, and for me, the costs in tax etc. for my car are less than buying and running a car myself.
I asked my company's car fleet department if I could go on a driver training day - was told the insurance won't cover it, then when pushed they told me "all our comany drivers are responsible and don't need any training", but I'm a company driver and I would like some training, "it's not comany policy".
It is very sad that RoSPA continue to peddle the message that a reduction in speeding will inexorably reduce accidents - surely they have read the stats! Their other suggestions seem sensible - why shouldn't car drivers be subject to the same rules as bikers and have to prove a certain level of competence before being allowed loose with 200plus bhp? But why-o-why this continued hatred of speeding... if they really want to slow us down ban all car sales except for Nissan Micras!!
As a company car driver I wouldn't object to extra training providing it is actually useful. Some kind of black box to monitor speed is taking it too far. Why is it always speed tat gets the blame. You only need to compare the driving on the motorway on a Sunday to see the difference when they let the ocaisional driver out, Chaos.
It is true that some HGV drivers are crap and so are a lot of car drivers. The trouble is mistakes mage by truckers usually have much more serious consequences that mistakes made by car drivers. To cite one example my mates Nova saloon (dont laugh 
) was written of by a trucker who didn't use his mirrors. If a car had done the same thing it would have been a different story.
) was written of by a trucker who didn't use his mirrors. If a car had done the same thing it would have been a different story.Gassing Station | Motoring News | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff