Driver Training and Company Budgets

It was very interesting. After writing the blog yesterday, a well known international company contacted us in regard to driver training for their fleet. To make a long story, short, they only had a budget of US$30 per driver, set aside for driver training. Yet one of the reasons they had come to us was because their drivers were having too many accidents.

Fleet owners will happily spend $20,000 - $50,000 on each vehicle, yet won't spend $200 on proper training for the driver of that vehicle. Am I the only one that can't see the logic in that? A properly trained driver, not only reduces the accident and death rates on the roads, but can also saves the company thousands of dollars in maintenance and fuel costs. Driver training is not an expense, it's an investment and should be treated as a priority.

Road crashes are becoming a ‘new health emergency for Africa,’ representing a huge burden on our health systems and an obstacle to our efforts to overcome poverty. Desmond Tutu

Kenya Road Accidents

Kenya Road Accidents

On my way to the office this morning I was listening to 105.5FM radio station. They had an entire segment on the road carnage that has happened over the last 12 hours . They reported that 30 people have been killed on Kenya's roads in the past 12 hours. They DJ was horrified along with many others that called in to voice their concerns.

The Daily Nation Newspaper reports the same with more statistics:
47 people have died in road related incidents since 3 December, 2007, while 76 others are injured. Most reports involve public transport vehicles of one type or another.

Kenya has one of the highest death toll rates in the world, with over 3,000 people killed annually, which means one person dies every 3 hours in Kenya from road accident related injuries.

Yet, what is being done to reduce these death rates? Glen Edmunds Performance Driving School is the only advanced driving school in the country of Kenya. We offer a variety of courses from defensive driving, anti-carjacking and other security related driving courses, along with 4WD courses - both on road and off road and many others. However, many bus companies, matatu owners and other fleet operators and corporations won't spend the money for proper driver training. If they do invest in any driver training at all, they choose less expensive companies that don't have properly trained instructors. They are merely "ticking the box" with driver training and it's not making a difference.

We would love to hear your opinions on this topic.