A new free-to-attend conference for commercial vehicle fleet operators across the north west will be staged in the autumn in a bid to improve road safety and cut collisions and casualties on the region’s roads.
Statistics show that commercial vehicles are involved in more than 32% of killed and seriously injured collisions on the Strategic Road Network across the north west of England. The conference – titled ‘Commercial Vehicle Safety: The Challenges & Opportunities’ – will set out to understand the issues behind these casualty statistics.
The conference is being organised by Highways England and the five road safety partnerships in the north west – Cheshire Road Safety Group, Cumbria Road Safety Partnership, Lancashire Road Safety Partnership, Merseyside Road Safety Partnership and Safer Roads Greater Manchester.
It will be held at Haydock Park Racecourse on Wednesday 2 October.
The agenda is currently under development but will include presentations covering enforcement and compliance with the law, load security, vehicle technology and innovations and driver training.
Confirmed speakers include Nina Day from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Insp Keith Kellett, North West Motorway Police Group, Gareth Jones from Speedy Hire and Vicki Goodair from the Driving for Better Business programme.
Superintendent Julie Ellison, chair of Safer Roads Greater Manchester, said: “The collision risk on our roads is highest in June and September and a significant number of the drivers involved are males aged 46-55 years – with fatigue identified as a factor in many instances.
“Our conference will set out to understand the issues behind the casualty statistics, and provide a set of tools and resources to help fleet operators improve their safety performance and reduce collisions.
“We urge all owners, senior managers and fleet managers from organisations operating commercial vehicle fleets of all sizes from 3.5 tonne upwards to either attend themselves or ensure their organisation is represented at the conference.”
For more information, or to register to attend (FOC), visit the conference website or contact Nick Rawlings or Sally Bartrum on 01379 650112.
Comment on this story