Fleet operators already have plenty to think about when it comes to road safety, from distraction and fatigue to speeding and changing road conditions.
Now, a recent story from Scotland highlights another issue: the changing face of roads policing.
Last week, the final dedicated roads policing unit in the Scottish Borders closed, leaving around 2,000 miles of roads without a dedicated local traffic base.
The change ends almost 60 years of locally based traffic policing in the area – click here to read the full story.
While Police Scotland says the changes won’t reduce road safety or visibility, the Road Policing Division has already reduced from its original 656 posts to 501 posts.
HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland has also warned that reduced visible presence is affecting the ability to deter dangerous driving.
At the same time, 161 people were killed on Scotland’s roads in 2024, up from 143 the previous year.
Can Fleets Afford To Rely On Enforcement?
Of course, police enforcement remains crucial, but fleets cannot assume somebody else will always identify risky behaviour before it results in an incident.
Increasingly, businesses need their own systems to understand risk within their driver population.
Which drivers are higher risk? Have circumstances changed? Are assessments happening regularly? And are interventions taking place before problems escalate?
Our Risk Monitor product helps fleets continuously assess driver risk, providing live risk levels, alerts when circumstances change and a central view of where intervention may be needed.
Stories like this underline why operators need to become increasingly proactive about identifying and managing the risks they can control.
Please get in touch if you would like help doing exactly that.
