Traffic safety a priority for Dutch companies
Safety has long been a strong sales argument in the passenger car segment, but companies do not always prioritise the safety argument as highly for heavy vehicles. Now Volvo Trucks is testing new channels for communicating the safety message to customers and a successful example from the Netherlands leads the way.
“The safety systems in today’s trucks dramatically reduce the risk of road accidents. Now the big challenge is to put the safety argument across to more customers,” says Carl Johan Almqvist, Traffic and Product Safety Director at Volvo Trucks.
In the Netherlands, Volvo Trucks is collaborating with its dealers to test new ways of raising customer interest in safety.
“We started by training our own sales force in traffic and product safety and today all our sales representatives are also safety ambassadors,” says Charles Engelaar, Communication Manager at Volvo Trucks Netherlands.
The next step was to provide dealers with demo trucks, thus allowing customers to test and experience the safety systems hands-on. As a consequence, in December 2009 Volvo supplied its dealers with 10 trucks fitted with all the safety systems currently available from Volvo Trucks.
Then, in 2010, Volvo dealers have started organising safety events for customers featuring test drives, presentations and discussions.
“The initiative attracted keen interest both in the Netherlands and abroad. One of our most active dealers, the Nijwa Group, had more than 700 visitors at its safety events,” says Engelaar.
Gerwin Rotman, who works with purchasing and logistics at Wegorst-AVIA, a petrol and lubricants supplier, is among those who have taken the safety message on board.
He says, “At the safety event, our drivers got to learn more about safety and they also had the opportunity to test drive the vehicles. We bought two of the safety trucks shortly after the event, largely as a result of this hands-on experience. Now they’re part of our fleet, providing daily proof that our company prioritises safety.”
As Almqvist explains the Dutch example is not an isolated occurrence. “Our experience from the Dutch project is extremely valuable. Now we're working on similar safety initiatives in several other markets.”
Volvo Trucks has long been a leader in the development of truck and transport safety. For example, Volvo Trucks is unique in offering a factory-fitted alcolock, ESP (Electronic Stability Program) for complete vehicle combinations and Driver Alert Support, a driver drowsiness detection system.
