Fleets not testing for drink and drugs

12.00 | 23 August 2012 | | 3 comments

57% of fleets do not test drivers for alcohol and 63% do not test for illegal drugs, according to a report published today (23 August) by the Fleet Safety Forum.

The figures are included in ‘Measuring the Risk (part 2)’, a report based on an annual survey of Fleet Safety Forum subscribers.

The report is published just days after the DfT released provisional figures showing that deaths resulting from drink drive crashes in 2011 increased by 12% compared with 2010, and seriously injured casualties rose by 3%.

Measuring the Risk also benchmarks companies’ approaches to other causes of driver impairment such as driver tiredness, health and eyesight; it reveals that four in 10 companies are not offering eyesight testing for drivers.

Roslyn Cumming, development manager at Brake, which manages the Fleet Safety Forum, said: “The DfT’s figures confirm what we already know about the devastating effects of drink driving.

“I’d urge fleet managers to get hold of this report to see how their organisation measures up, and get expert tips on how to avoid a range of risks to safe driving, including alcohol and drug use.”

Measuring the Risk is available free of charge to Fleet Safety Forum subscribers and will be sent free to the first 50 non-subscriber organisations to request it. The cost thereafter is £5. Email admin@brake.org.uk to order.

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    MORR policy is a huge grey area for many businesses and organisations. Compulsory drink / drug tests would need amendments to terms of employment etc and I suspect that runs into much bigger issues. Tiredness and health issues are probably much more of a problem for fleet operators than drink / drugs.


    Dave, Leeds
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    Why should fleets test their drivers for drink? Is there a specific identified problem of drunk fleet drivers?

    Drivers whose job depends on their licence will know that they will lose both if they drink drive. I suspect the problem may be so small that time and effort would better be spent elsewhere, but please prove me wrong.


    Dave Finney – Slough
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    I am afraid that I don’t find it at all surprising that ‘57% of fleets do not test drivers for alcohol and 63% do not test for illegal drugs’. What I do find surprising is that by implication this seems to be based on a sample of Fleet Forum members.


    Adrian Walsh RoadSafe
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