What the latest road safety figures mean for fleets
New road casualty figures are a sobering reminder for businesses of the risks associated with driving for work.
According to the Department for Transport (DfT), 445 people were killed in collisions involving an at-work driver in 2025 – almost a third (29%) of all road fatalities in Great Britain[1].
A further 6,460 people were killed or seriously injured in these collisions, including 1,703 people (drivers, riders and passengers) who were travelling as part of their work.
For fleets, these figures are hard to ignore. Driving is simply part of the job for many employees, yet it remains one of the most serious risks they face as part of their working life.
Beyond the workplace
It’s not only employees who are affected by work-related collisions.
In 2025, 4,757 people who were not working at the time were killed or seriously injured in a collision involving a working driver or rider. This included 1,183 pedestrians.
Employers have a responsibility to protect their drivers, but their duty of care extends further. Effective occupational road-risk management must also consider passengers, pedestrians and other road users who could be affected by work-related journeys.
Under the radar drivers
Not everyone who drives for work will appear on the company vehicle list.
Employees using their own cars for meetings or site visits can leave businesses with gaps in their knowledge. Do you know who is driving? Is the vehicle properly maintained and suitable for the journey?
To ensure consistency for all employees who drive on business, employers have a responsibility to develop a grey fleet policy which clearly outlines rules and expectations, from licence and insurance checks to tax, MOTs, vehicle condition and how journeys are approved and recorded.
Look beyond licence checks
As well as licence checks, risk assessments, collision records, mileage, penalty points, vehicle data and training history can all help build a clearer picture of individual driver risk – and makes it easier to identify patterns.
Repeated incidents may suggest a driver needs more training, while frequent harsh braking or speeding could indicate issues with routes or workloads.
Telematics and driver-scoring tools can help fleets spot these behaviours, while dashcam footage can provide useful context following a collision or near miss. Used properly, this information can support constructive conversations and more targeted training.
The purpose shouldn’t be to catch drivers out. It should be to understand where the risk is and provide support before a more serious incident occurs.
The vehicle itself also needs to be part of the conversation. Daily checks should cover tyres, lights and visible defects, supported by regular maintenance.
Behind the behaviour
Driver behaviour doesn’t exist in isolation. Employees may take risks because they don’t have enough time to get to a customer appointment or they feel pressured to manage their workload. They might also suffer from fatigue, poor mental wellbeing or other health concerns which can affect concentration or reaction times.
This is why road safety needs to be a consideration for the whole company. From the fleet department to HR, all teams have a role to play in ensuring road risk is minimised. Journey planning should allow for realistic travel times and proper breaks. Drivers should feel able to stop when tired, delay a journey in poor driving conditions, ignore calls or messages until they are safely parked, and feel comfortable speaking openly about anything that could affect their fitness to drive.
Managers also need to reinforce the message that no meeting or deadline is more important than arriving safely.
Turn policies into everyday practice
Most fleets will already have a driving-for-work policy. The question is whether it influences what happens in practice.
Drivers need to understand what’s expected of them, while managers need guidance on how to respond when concerns are identified.
Near misses and collisions should be investigated consistently, with lessons shared and follow-up action recorded. Training should be targeted to the needs of individual drivers rather than treated as a one-size-fits-all exercise.
Simple frameworks such as COAST – Concentration, Observation, Anticipation, Space and Time – can also help drivers apply safe-driving principles on every journey.
Ultimately, managing occupational road risk is about creating a culture in which safe driving is supported by the way work is planned, communicated and managed.
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-involving-driving-for-work/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-estimates-involving-driving-for-work