Back to school for council employees

Everyone who drives for Cornwall County Council is being sent back to ‘driving school’ in a major initiative to reduce the number and severity of road accident casualties in the county.

As the county’s largest employer, and the organisation responsible for promoting road safety, the County Council is well placed to help Cornwall hit Government accident reduction targets and change driver attitudes.

Special ‘driver improvement courses’ have been set up and all County Council drivers will eventually have to attend the theory and practical sessions.

Chief executive Peter Stethridge, the former county surveyor and head of highways, attended the launch of the driver improvement course. "Thousands of us drive as part of our jobs every working day and like all other drivers we may have become complacent or developed bad, even potentially dangerous, driving habits," he said.

"These courses will be a wake-up call to everyone and will make Cornwall safer and set an example that we hope other major employers will follow."

The theory sessions include driver responsibilities, the causes of accidents, stress and fatigue, observation, hazard perception and questioning whether a journey is actually necessary. This is followed by a practical session on a one to one basis in each driver’s own vehicle, which encourages defensive driving techniques. The programme will train up to 17,000 drivers.

"The courses will enable drivers to develop high levels of competence to cope with the hazards they may face when driving," said RSO Chris Billing. "For the majority of drivers the date on which they passed their test was the last time they thought of driver training. With 96 per cent of road crashes being due to driver error an overall improvement in driving standards could greatly reduce the number of road collisions."

For more information contact Chris Billing, cbilling@cornwall.gov.uk.