September 2022 | BUSINESS FLEET AFRICA
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regards to what is a reportable incident
and there must be procedures in place
for the recording of this information.
Any incident where there is damage to a
vehicle should be properly documented
with photographs, eyewitness state-
ments, statements from the driver and
reporting of the incident to the police
station, even if it is just for insurance
purposes.
It is critical to capture all this informa-
tion as efficiently as possible, as delaying
to do so, could mean the loss of critical
information or the ability to contact key
persons after the fact. It is also not best
practice to rely on the driver to do so, a
preceding traumatic event could hinder
their ability to carry out these actions
sufficiently.
Very often the information recorded
by the South African Police Service is
inaccurate or contradictory in incidents
where multiple parties make statements
and this is when it pays to have your own
accident investigation team on hand
to ensure that you are legally covered,
especially if there was a loss of life or
if there is potential legal action against
your company.
For more serious incidents it is vital
to have access to resources within your
organisation or from approved suppliers
that can assist with actions like accident
reconstruction, legal representation,
salvage and recovery, insurance, vehicle
storage and trauma counselling.
One of the cornerstones of your
disaster contingency plan is to have
adequate insurance in place to offset
major liability claims and to protect own
assets, cash reserves and cash flow.
Unfortunately for many South
Africans insurance is a grudge purchase,
but it really shouldn’t be seen that
way. See your insurers as a partner and
ensure that you are always open and
transparent with them. Regular conver-
sations with your insurer will help you
identify whether you remain adequately
covered or if there is anything that can
be done to give you better cover. This
might be by re-evaluating the value of
assets in an ageing fleet or reducing
risk by implementing additional driver
training or telematics measures.
In the wake of an incident a close re-
lationship with your insurance company
will help to swiftly recover assets, clean
up sites, gather information and process
claims correctly.
The best way to avoid the fall out of
accidents is to do everything possible to
minimise the chances of your vehicles
being involved in accidents. Key to this is
driver training and driver monitoring.
Modern day telematics systems
offer the ability to monitor properly
trained drivers closely. This performance
can be tracked on various criteria by
software like smartphone apps. These
systems use a variety of hardware and
software to easily identify any road
traffic violations transgressions like
speeding or talking on their cell phone
while driving, in real time. This data can
be used constructively to improve driver
behaviour or to prevent phenomenon
like driving for excessive periods of time
continuously.
The way vehicles are used presents
the biggest risk for potential road traffic
accidents and increased, unnecessary,
costs. Efficiently managing the people
that use your vehicles is the easiest way
to keep a lid on costs,” says de Vries.
Unfortunately accidents will happen,
however if you have the right systems
and procedures in place these incidents
will have less of an effect on your
business continuity as a whole and that
is key to running a successful transport
operation in the current economic
climate. BFA