A new partnership between Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) and Driving for Better Business (DfBB) has made free advice available for businesses on how to better manage their fleets and vehicles to reduce both costs and the risk of accidents.

The DfBB programme offers online tools and resources, to take business owners, company directors and fleet managers through seven steps to better driver management.

The tookit is designed to help make long-term sustainable improvements in risk management that will lead to reductions in collisions, the ability to control operational costs, and the confidence to fulfil legal requirements.

It is free to use and contains useful online tools and resources to help businesses and organisations as they evaluate practices, strengthen culture enhanced performance, and demonstrate leadership in the management of work-related road risk.

Darren Divall, regional road safety manager for TfWM, said: “Analysis of our regional road casualty figures show that between 2017 and 2021 there were 193 killed and seriously injured road casualties involving a goods vehicle.

“Alarmingly, over 60% of the casualties were pedestrians with 27% being the driver of the vehicle. These figures do not include those using a private car for work journeys.

“Far too many road users are killed or injured in collisions involving someone who is at work. Road safety is a shared responsibility, and we all have our part to play.

“TfWM is pleased to be working with National Highways and the DfBB team to offer this essential guidance and support to our local businesses and organisations. It is in all our interests that everyone has the chance to get it right.”