FLEETS should be preparing drivers now for the fact that some new cars, vans and trucks will be fitted with intelligent speed assistance (ISA) technology within a year, writes Peter Golding, managing director of FleetCheck.
The introduction of ISA technology is a significant opportunity to enforce a safety message on speed. Employers should make it clear that there is no corporate leeway when it comes to speeding and the dangers it represents.
All new cars and vans given type approval from May 2022 will have ISA fitted while those already on sale must comply by May 2024. With the long lead times currently being experienced by fleet operators, vehicles being ordered within the next few months will potentially arrive with ISA fitment, so this is very close to being a live fleet issue.
Thankfully, macho attitudes towards speeding that were once quite common among drivers of company vehicles have reduced considerably in recent years. However, speeding tickets are still pretty common, as any fleet manager will tell you.
The way in which the new devices work mean that drivers need to make a conscious decision to break the law by squeezing the accelerator and there is simply no good reason for that to happen. With the first ISA cars, vans and trucks now less than a year away, this is a good moment to adopt a zero tolerance approach to excessive speed.
Our view is that this should be presented to drivers as a genuine benefit. Firstly, these are safer vehicles – reduced speed means fewer accidents. Secondly, it will potentially remove the chance of you picking up a speeding ticket.
Research undertaken by the EU shows that drivers like ISA-equipped cars because, in everyday driving, sticking to the speed limit becomes one less thing to worry about. We are sure that this will soon become the case among drivers of company vehicles.
FleetCheck has a customer base of more than 1,300 businesses totalling in excess of 120,000 vehicles using its suite of fleet software solutions. The company also offers a range of additional services including telematics, risk management, driver training, licence checking, fleet documentation, fleet policy creation and strategy implementation.
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