Silverstone experience to reward safe at-work driving

Ryder Plc is working with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and Silverstone to recognise high safety standards among its occupational drivers.

Ryder, one of the UK's leading commercial vehicle, fleet management and supply chain companies, selected 50 of its employees who drive as part of their job to take part in the Ultimate Driving Experience at the historic motor racing circuit on Sunday (May 13).

Around 900 of the company' s drivers competed for places and the successful candidates were chosen because of their"low risk" classification in driver assessments and their blemish-free accident and endorsement record over the past year.

The Ultimate Driving Experience, which has been put together by Ryder in conjunction with RoSPA, is the latest element to be incorporated into the company's comprehensive driver training programme that covers all members of staff who drive for work.

Activities at Silverstone will focus on developing participants' driving skills, including precision light goods vehicle manoeuvring sessions run by RoSPA driver trainers. There will also be opportunities for drivers to learn the skills needed to manage high-performance vehicles in a safe environment, as well as experience off-road driving.

Ryder's driver training programme, which was developed with RoSPA, means that the driving skills of 900 employees are assessed each year, and 20 lead drivers are being trained to become in-house assessors.

All drivers work through RoSPA's online Driver Profiler software, which measures their strengths and weaknesses behind the wheel, and those identified to be "high risk" undergo one-to-one defensive driver training with RoSPA.

Ryder staff also take part in RoSPA's National Safe Driving Awards, through which their driving records are held and updated annually with rewards for those who have been accident-free. Errol Taylor, Deputy Chief Executive of RoSPA, who will attend the event, said: "Organisations with employees who drive as part of their job are expected to have a systematic approach to dealing with at-work road risk.

"Ryder has just such an approach and we commend the company's investment in and commitment to driver safety. Programmes such as those introduced by Ryder not only meet legal requirements, but they can also bring very real business benefits.

"We are thrilled to be working with Ryder on the Ultimate Driving Experience and the day is just reward for those employees who have demonstrated high levels of safe and responsible driving over the past year."

Simon Head, Health, Safety, Environment and Security Manager at Ryder, said:"Ryder is committed to investing in driver safety and as part of our system to manage at-work road risk, we wanted to congratulate those employees who have demonstrated a culture of safe driving.

"We hope the Ultimate Driving Experience will become an annual event that serves as an incentive to all our drivers to stay focused on road safety."