RED Corporate Driver Training adds pothole instruction to most courses to battle epidemic
20 April, 2023
Due to the massive levels of damage and disruption fleets are now encountering with potholes, RED Corporate Driver Training has added pothole-specific instruction to nearly all its courses.
With wet weather at the start of the year causing more potholes to appear, councils are struggling to keep on top of road repairs. As a result, more and more drivers are encountering potholes – causing damage to vehicles, huge disruption and cost to business operations while also posing a safety risk to road users.
Seb Goldin, CEO of RED Corporate Driver Training, said: “It seems remarkable that we should have to do this in 2023, but the fact is pothole damage and disruption is now at epidemic proportions. For many businesses it is the main cause of unplanned repairs and downtime, and so we have acted accordingly and added a module to nearly all our courses on how to avoid them, and what to do if you hit one.
“With such a backlog of road repairs, this issue isn’t going away anytime soon, so training and knowledge is the best course of action to help businesses and their drivers solve the problem.”
RED Corporate Driver Training has produced a Pothole Policy document to share with drivers, which includes:
- Scan the road ahead – usually we urge drivers to look as far ahead as possible, but for potholes you need to keep an eye on the road surface immediately ahead. For the first time, we’re saying ‘eyes down’ rather than ‘eyes up’.
- Have a plan – if you can get around a pothole, do so and indicate your intention so following cars are alerted to the issue. If the road isn’t clear to overtake, slow down to avoid hitting the pothole at speed.
- Educate your drivers – if a local road is a known pothole blackspot, instruct your drivers to avoid the road at all costs.
- If the worst happens and you hit a pothole, find a safe place to stop and inspect your vehicle. Check for bulges in the sidewall of the tyre, which could indicate damage to the carcass. If there is damage to the tyre or vehicle, DO NOT attempt to fix the car at the roadside – call a roadside recovery company who will get you to safety.
- Finally, report the pothole location at https://www.gov.uk/report-pothole. If the local authority is unaware of the pothole, it can’t fix it.
Seb Goldin added: “Pothole damage and disruption is such an important issue, and it’s not being addressed, so fleets need a strategy to minimise its impact. It’s not just as simple as telling drivers to avoid them – there are so many, and they appear so randomly that it requires training on how to identify them, as often they are hidden under water or at the roadside. Also, sometimes a driver has little choice about hitting one and so there are strategies around how to make good decisions about avoidance and minimising the impact, and also what to do after you’ve hit one.
“So it made sense to add it to most of our courses, as it could ultimately save your company hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds in repairs and downtime to vehicles.”
ENDS
Further information
Colin Paterson, Corporate Marketing
colin.paterson@redtraining.com
07774 828942
About RED Corporate Driver Training RED Corporate Driver Training (CDT) is part of the Driving Success Group which also includes one of the UK’s largest multi-award-winning driving schools. The Corporate Driver Training part of the group specialises in the delivery of tailored programmes to reduce the road risks within organisations and improve the safety and efficiency of work-related driving, and has more than 35 years’ experience in service delivery for a wide range of clients including SMEs, not-for-profit and large multi-national organisations. The business is a fully accredited DVSA (Driver and Vehicles Standards Agency) Fleet Training provider, and by training its own trainers, coaches and instructors for corporate and fleet training work, ensures that high standards of quality are applied consistently throughout the UK. RED CDT is accredited to ISO standards: 9001, 27001,14001 and 18001 and has won many business awards for its dedication to customer service. Operating from a specialist training facility at Donington Park race circuit gives clients access to a range of classroom, workshop and off-road driving settings.
