Women workers are missing out on driver training

New research has found that more than three quarters of women who drive for work haven’t been offered driver training by their employer.

A poll, which was conducted by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) Drive Survive, revealed that 61 percent of women drove for work, and only 22 percent of those were offered driver training. Almost the same proportion of men drove for work (60 percent), but 94 percent said they had been offered driver training.

Figures published by the Department for Transport showed that in 2007 a total of 530 women were involved in KSI (killed or seriously injured) accidents compared to 1640 men.

IAM Drive survive head of training, Simon Elstow believes the reason that less female workers are being offered driver training is because statistically women appear to be safer drivers. He said: “We know that women have fewer KSI accidents, but they are most vulnerable at junctions and are involved in more low speed accidents, which can result in hefty costs to employers. We would encourage female drivers to ‘speak up’ at work and request driver training as part of the employer’s duty of care.

“We encourage businesses to offer driver training and assessment to all their employees as best practice and a duty of care. Employers have a responsibility to take all reasonable steps to lower the risks to employees when behind the wheel.

“Prevention is much better than cure and it’s important to offer tailored training instead of a ‘one size fits all’ approach. There are a number of unconscious risks associated with driving that they may well not be aware of. These can be easily addressed with an expert instructor and can be prompted through on-line training or an individual driver risk assessment.”