Assess essential skills when profiling at-work drivers

Assessing the core skills of a driver’s attitude, knowledge, observation/concentration and hazard perception skills are essential for companies with vehicle fleets when profiling risk.

According to Jonathan Mosley, sales and marketing director of E-Training World, companies will enjoy maximum benefit from their driver assessments by sticking to the four cornerstones of driving ability, leading to improved driver buy-in, accurate results, a reduction in accidents and lower repair costs.

“If you consider how a driver is assessed in a vehicle by an ADI (approved driving instructor), they would evaluate the driver’s attitude, ask questions to test their knowledge, look at their levels of concentration and observation and check how adept they are at spotting clues to potential hazards,” said Jonathan.

“By placing these disciplines into a web-based assessment replicates the on-road process as closely as possible, with numerous advantages.

“Driver profiling is typically the first stage of a process to assess risk, identify training needs and implement a plan to reduce accident levels.

“Drivers new to the process can be skeptical, but a key benefit of putting people through an assessment that reflects their actual driving experience is that they ‘buy-into’ the online course from the outset. In turn, they will then trust, respect and participate in the other online training courses they are asked to undertake, and this beds in the longer-term benefits for the business.”

E-Training World has won multiple awards for its “knowledge and skills” system, mainly because the content is seen as being relevant, simple to understand, straightforward to complete and drivers are told after each question whether they were right or wrong, and what the correct answer was.

This means they are clear the whole way through of what is expected of them, are learning from the beginning and can understand why their risk rating was awarded.

“We get very good feedback about our system from drivers,” concluded Jonathan. “And that’s largely down to the fact that they understand why they are being asked the questions, and recognise that the results are fair and meaningful.”