There are more fleet companies with commercial vehicles who are unaware of the new act than the government would like to see. A new act coming in April 2009 is for a Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide law. Firms can now be prosecuted for manslaughter if negligence of the driver can be proved. In other words, if the driver causes death of another or if the fleet trucks cause death because of negligence on maintenance the firms can be held accountable.
28 percent of the fleet companies that were questioned for a survey were not aware of the new law. The survey was asked for by Navman Wireless. It was also revealed during the study that those who didn’t know about the law were planning to change the way they operate their fleet. The act should help other companies become aware of the changes that need to be made. Hopefully these companies will instigate devices like vehicle tracking systems to help manage road risk.
It is a concern that many companies don’t understand the consequences they could find themselves in. Corporate manslaughter can lead to fines of 10 percent of the business revenue. It is nice to see some of the companies are already making changes to help improve their fleets. This way they are covered because they have duty of care procedures.
Vehicle tracking systems help with managing a fleet. In fact these systems can tell which drivers are speeding, what trucks need to be serviced, and much more. They are a cost effective option for getting a company in line with the new act for 2009.
The companies who are going to improve their procedures said they would take a significant look at their safety procedures for maintenance on the trucks. As many as 51 percent of fleet companies stated they would have more quality safety checks on their vehicles.
44 percent stated they would also work out a new schedule for employees to make sure no one is overworked or has too many hours on the road. 42 percent stated they would have a working time directive that would be enforced and followed. 27 percent of the companies surveyed in the study stated they have vehicle tracking devices and are still hoping to make improvements. The improvements will help reduce issues with their fleet and hopefully prevent any issues with the new law coming into effect.
