These days, fleet managers are operating under relentless commercial pressure, with tight margins, demanding clients, and ‘instant’ delivery transforming their roles into 24/7 positions.
Amid this pressure one serious risk often falls by the wayside: driver fatigue.
Fatigue in professional drivers is a lot more serious than simply feeling tired while at work. It is a scientifically recognised impairment which negatively impacts reaction times, concentration, and hazard perception.
Legally, tiredness on the road can be just as serious as being impaired by alcohol or other drugs, and thus it becomes a major liability risk for fleet managers.
Looking at the data
Data from the Department for Transport (DfT) reveals that each year there are hundreds of collisions involving tired or overworked drivers, with fatigue shown to be a contributing factor in around 20% of crashes on the UK’s major roads.
The real figure is likely to be even higher as it can be difficult to prove fatigue – unlike with drugs and alcohol, there is no roadside test for tiredness.
Instead, investigators will examine shift patterns, breaks, schedules, and look for evidence of overwork. Depending on what they find, the blame can end up falling squarely onto the fleet manager.
Thankfully, the legal obligations of fleet managers are very clear. Employers have a duty of care under health and safety laws to protect both their employees and the public from ‘foreseeable harm’.
For this reason, if a driver causes a major crash due to fatigue, the ramifications can extend far beyond insurance claims.
Companies will likely face civil liability, scrutiny from the regulator, or even corporate manslaughter proceedings.
The issue is not confined to one area of the driving world. Fatigue affects van drivers, service engineers, sales teams, and gray fleet drivers using their own vehicles for work.
The gig economy has also blurred the traditional boundaries. When drivers feel time pressured, overworked or expected to meet unrealistic workloads, they will skip breaks and work extended hours, increasing risk.
Battling fatigue
It is also important to remember that fatigue is a cumulative problem and isn’t simply the result of a few long shifts.
Repeated early starts along with late finishes build up unacceptable levels of ‘sleep debt’. When a person is extremely tired, the dangerous phenomenon of ‘microsleeping’ can occur.
This is where a person experiences brief, uncontrollable lapses of attention. At motorway speeds, a vehicle can travel the length of a football pitch in this time – it goes without saying that making drivers work in this condition greatly increases the chances of a major collision on the roads.
From a legal perspective, the main question investigators will ask after a fleet vehicle crash is ‘was this foreseeable and preventable?’.
More and more, courts are expecting employers to demonstrate a proactive fatigue management strategy, alongside evidence it is actually being implemented.
Failure to do so greatly increases the risk that the investigators will find the crash avoidable and place liability on the organisation.
Technology can be helpful, but fleet managers shouldn’t treat it as a silver bullet. Telematics systems which monitor harsh braking, lane deviation, and erratic driving can identify warning signs of a driver being too tired but ultimately cannot make them less tired.
Some vehicles now also have inbuilt fatigue detection systems; however, such technology must sit alongside a company culture which expressly forbids driving while overly fatigued, and where drivers feel able to tell their employers that they feel too tired to work.
Fleet managers should view fatigue not merely as a compliance issue but as a strategic risk. A single serious collision can result in life-changing injuries, reputational damage and substantial financial cost.
Civil claims involving catastrophic injury regularly reach seven figures. Beyond the legal exposure, there is the human cost, to victims, families and the driver involved.
To a fleet manager, fatigue should not simply be something to comply with, but should also be seen as a major reputational risk.
Serious collisions can cause life changing injuries alongside major financial issues – civil claims involving catastrophic injuries as the result of negligence frequently run into seven figure sums.
Beyond the legal and financial costs, there is the human element too: scores of people’s lives, both on and off the road, are changed forever after a crash from the victims to their families, and of course the driver involved.
Becoming a responsible operator
To create a safe driving culture, first, audit working patterns. Examine shift lengths, turnaround times and overtime practices. Are schedules realistic when traffic, weather and unforeseen delays are factored in?
Second, create a genuine reporting culture. Drivers must feel able to declare fatigue without fear of sanction. Clear policies should state that safety takes precedence over delivery targets.
Third, provide education. Many drivers underestimate the dangers of fatigue or rely on ineffective countermeasures such as caffeine.
Training should emphasise that the only real cure for tiredness is adequate sleep.
There are a number of simple steps which fleet managers can take to drive fatigue off the roads. Firstly, examine your drivers’ working patterns and ascertain whether their shift patterns are realistic.
Secondly, create an open, honest, and intimidation free culture of reporting. Thirdly, educate your drivers – and then educate them again.
Training should emphasise the only real cure for tiredness: good sleep.
Finally, lead by example. Senior management should demonstrate and reinforce safe behaviours. When safety messaging conflicts with what employees are seeing with their own eyes, confusion and non-compliance ensue.
The commercial landscape may have become more demanding than ever before, but fleet managers need to keep one guiding principle in mind at all times: no deadline is worth a life.
John Kushnick is legal director at National Accident Helpline
