Dying for the Weekend?

There’s nothing like that Friday feeling - but its buzz can be potentially fatal for people driving to and from work.

Research shows that Friday evenings are the most dangerous time on the UK’s roads. Accident deaths and serious injuries peak dramatically around the 5pm ‘rush hour’, leading road safety experts to conclude that the ‘Thank God it’s Friday’ high, and making plans for the weekend, may cause motorists to temporarily lose concentration.

In a bid address this issue, the Lancashire Partnership for Road Safety has teamed up with local firms to launch a new speed awareness program, ‘Driving Skills’.

The campaign is not solely aimed at employees who drive to and from work. According to the Health and Safety Executive, accident figures show that of those killed or injured on Lancashire’s roads, 33 per cent are at-work drivers, while 66 per cent of all fleet drivers crash every year. Driving a vehicle on company business rates amongst the most hazardous of all vocational activities.

Sharron Sinclair, from Hurel-Hispano in Burnley says: "We hosted the Driving SKills day because we wanted to make more people think about speed and the devastating consequences it can have. Regularly reminding employees who bring vehicles to work or use them as part of their jobs to travel within speed limits - and undertaking regular reviews to ensure they can manage their workload without having to speed to reduce journey times - are simple measures that cost very little to implement."

As well as the primary benefit of reducing the number of collisions and related deaths and injuries, driving at a safe and appropriate speed brings a number of business benefits and can produce major financial cost savings. Reductions in company insurance premiums, improvements in fuel consumption rates, alongside a reduction in wear and tear on tyres, brakes and clutches, a reduction in harmful exhaust emissions and an improved public image can all affect a company’s bottom line.

"The joint aim of our company Driving SKills campaign is to highlight these messages so that procedures can be put in place to encourage a road safe culture," says the Lancashire Partnership for Road safety’s Linda Sanderson.