Don't text away your cheap fleet van insurance premium

Companies looking for fleet van insurance should be scrupulous about ensuring their drivers do not text while driving.

According to Fleetworld 39% of van drivers admit to texting while behind the wheel. The dangers of this are obvious: texting dramatically reduces the speed of reaction times, just five seconds of texting at 55 mph means that a whole football field's length of hazards can go unnoticed.

Rich Hanowski, the man who headed a £3.6 million study into texting-driving, comments, "Texting is in its own universe of risk."

He also said that although conducting a telephone conversation was an unequivocally dangerous thing to do, "Talking/listening to a phone allowed drivers to maintain eyes on the road and were not associated with an increased safety risk to nearly the same degree.

"These results show conclusively that a real key to significantly improving safety is keeping your eyes on the road," he said.

While Diarmuid Fahy, head of risk at ING Car Lease, said that businesses must not confuse allowing fleet drivers to use their phones when on the road with good business. "Regardless of business performance, the one thing that should not be compromised is safety and it is just as important now as ever to make sure drivers and businesses have safety front of mind," he said.

And, as good business is so often about reduced overheads and clever risk assessment, it naturally follows that good safety records lead to reduced commercial van insurance premiums.

A spokesperson from iVan, the leader in commercial vehicle quotes, comments, "All studies tell us unanimously that texting while driving is every bit as dangerous as drink driving. Whatever temptation there might be to pick up a call or "just check that text", it is essential to resist - even if it means turning your phone off.

"A good company road safety record can save business thousands of pounds when it comes to getting cover for their fleets."

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