We’re changing the way we provide driver training to better meet the needs of our business members. In 2023, you can now enrol all your employees (not just the ones that drive for work) in an online corporate driver training course.
Most people consider themselves safe drivers without any formal training beyond what they have to do to obtain their driver’s licence. But driving, like any skill, requires practice and constant learning to improve and maintain.
There’s also a big difference between driving for leisure and for work. At work, the driver may be under pressure to meet deadlines, need to navigate unfamiliar locations or travel long distances on freeways and country roads at odd hours. These situations increase the risk for untrained employees. Yet, most drivers don’t receive any further training and are expected to adapt when starting a new job that requires them to drive for work.
Over the last 100 years, the NRMA has been providing roadside assistance to drivers in NSW and the ACT. And we’ve used this experience and knowledge to develop driver training courses to educate business employees, as well as individuals, on the benefits of low risk driving to keep our members and their crews safer on the roads.
Businesses have long recognised that training employees on workplace safety needs to go beyond manual handling and workstation ergonomics. After 10 years of providing hands-on corporate driver training, we’ve now worked with existing customers to develop an online training option that can be offered to all employees in any location.
The new online corporate driver training course will allow you to provide accessible training to your team in a safe and risk-free environment, no matter their location. Using an online delivery method, your business can also include the program in your workplace health and safety education programs to increase the focus on road safety.
One of the main topics the course covers is the theory of low risk driving to reduce the impacts of human error and bad habits learnt over years of self-taught driving.
Participants will learn how experiences from their life may motivate or impact their current approach to driving, and the course will help facilitate behavioural change so each time they start the car, they begin the journey with a safety mindset.
Other topics that are covered in the NRMA online corporate driver training course include:
- Driver distraction
- Braking and stopping distances
- Avoiding common crashes
- Crash avoidance space
- Vision and scanning
- Speed control and consequences
- Drugs and alcohol
- Fatigue management
Back in 2000, the NSW Government introduced a Graduated Licensing Scheme that requires learner drivers under 25 to complete 120 hours of supervised driving (including 20 hours of night driving) and this has reduced the number of young driver deaths by 50%. This shows just how effective a little extra training can be.
And according to statistics included in The Road Safety Plan 2021 released by the NSW government, almost 30% of workplace fatalities in that year happened on the road, and approximately 25% of road fatalities involved a vehicle being used for businesses purposes.
Incorporating the NRMA online corporate driver training program into your staff safety education will empower your employees to get from A to B with confidence and create a culture that will improve the safety of all road users.