RoSPA Young Drivers at Work Report

Chapter 3
Interview findings
The telephone interviews also found that under 25 year
olds drive for a wide range of work duties, including the
types of journeys listed in the questionnaire survey.
The exhaustive list was:
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Travel between sites
Driving with passengers or clients, including
young children
Local and residential areas
Driving for errands
Motorway driving
Night-time driving
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Minibuses and other PCVs
Transit vans, including with trailers
Pick-up trucks
Four wheel drive cars
Tractors and other agricultural vehicles, including
with trailers
Fork-lift trucks and other plant vehicles
Emergency vehicles
Loaded flat-bed trucks, e.g. diesel tankers
LGVs and HGVs
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Collection and delivery of goods/materials
Rural roads
Site-limited driving off the public highway, e.g. power
stations and construction sites
Driving internationally, return journeys as well as staff
members being based abroad
Long-distance journeys across the UK, both day-return
and with overnight stops
Routine and irregular
Multi-stop journeys – both deliveries and visiting as
many clients as possible within a short time frame
Transportation of hazardous substances
Mileage
Respondents reported that their young drivers covered up
to 50,000 miles per annum.When an average mileage was
given, the modal response was 29-30,000 miles/year.
Type of vehicle
In more than two-thirds (70%) of cases, young people were
driving a vehicle larger than a car. Over half (53%) of young
people were specifically responsible for driving a transit
van. The vehicles driven for work by young people, which
included vehicles not covered by the category B driving
licence, were:
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Company cars
3.3 Why is the current learning to drive and
testing process not adequate?
Respondents who felt that the test prepared young drivers
adequately, generally made positive comments about the
driving test. Although they expressed satisfaction,
respondents recognised that anyone passing their test to
use their car for private driving would need other skills if
they began to drive for work.
Some respondents were guarded against new legislation
for post-test training, warning about the difficulties
businesses would face in meeting additional
government regulations.
The respondents who answered that the test prepared
young drivers quite adequately, not very adequately,
or not at all adequately for driving for work, gave a range
of reasons.
Most respondents expressed a belief that young drivers
required more experience after the test, either to apply
some of the skills they had learnt to a different environment,
or to learn new skills specific to at-work driving.
Most respondents also gave specific examples of at-work
situations for which they felt younger drivers were
not prepared.
308 respondents (75%) said that their employees drove in
situations not covered in the driving test. This was the
same irrespective of organisation size, fleet size, or the jobs
undertaken by young drivers.
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Own vehicles
Hire-cars
Young Drivers at Work Report
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