One in three crashes involve people driving for work. Managing a corporate fleet is a big responsibility; it involves not just profit and loss (although having a safe fleet will save you money), it also involves the lives of your employees and the communities they drive in. This responsibility is daunting enough in high-income countries with strong regulation and good infrastructure. If you are working or sub-contracting in other parts of the world, such as Africa, where children routinely walk alongside busy highways and dodge between large trucks to get to school, two-wheelers whizz around larger vehicles along dirt roads with no markings, and street vendors sit close to the side of the road, the responsibility becomes much harder to manage. No commercial driver wants to be the reason a child is killed and no organisation wants to be tarnished by tragedy.
Partnerships and local knowledge are important in tackling fleet safety among organisations and drivers at a community level. This is the value of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – independent, not-for-profit organisations or charities set up to address social needs. NGOs are the eyes, ears and voices of local people. They hear their tragic, personal stories of deaths and near-misses, they see children trying to cross the road, they know the streets where crashes happen, and they know the particular habits of drivers and pedestrians in the area. They are your local road safety tour guide – a valuable partner in keeping your vehicles, your drivers, and the communities they drive in safe. They can help you adapt to local conditions, ensure that drivers are sufficiently trained and are complying with policies, and run local Global Fleet Champion Awards. They can help you to work with local people and campaign together for stronger laws and specific infrastructure that benefits everyone.
No commercial driver wants to be the reason a child is killed and no organisation wants to be tarnished by tragedy.
The Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety represents 225 NGOs in over 90 countries in six continents around the world. Our members are passionate about saving lives. They know the road safety interventions that work. They are well-connected with decision-makers and community leaders.
We support the Global Fleet Champions campaign to engage businesses and improve fleet safety around the world. Our NGOs are ready and willing too, and we are equipping them. Brake, the road safety charity that administers the Global Fleet Champions campaign, will run sessions at our global meeting in April to promote best practice in occupational road safety and prepare more NGOs for this important work.
We share your goal to keep employees, their families, and every road user safe. We are pleased to be a part of the Global Fleet Champions campaign and hope for an active movement of NGOs to push for change around the world.
Let our NGOs help you.
Lotte Brondum
Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety www.roadsafetyngos.org
Lotte Brondum joined the Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety Secretariat in late 2014. As Executive Director, she has been instrumental in facilitating communication, involvement, participation and contributions from road safety NGOs, particularly towards meeting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals road safety targets.
Lotte started a capacity building initiative for the NGOs Empowerment Programme, helping Alliance members to plan road safety initiatives, identify funding, implement and evaluate relevant advocacy activities, mobilise communities, manage press attention and support legislative change. Under her leadership the Alliance is becoming the main organisation for NGOs and stakeholders to share global road safety information and opportunities.
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