Every fleet manager accepts that their driver will be involved in accidents from time to time; it is part and parcel of the job. What is frustrating is when cheap van insurance premiums are jeopardised by moments of madness when, for whatever reason, their drivers lose their cool.
A recent report by Swinton Commercial has suggested that UK van drivers are more prone to these outbursts than other road users. According to their survey, more than half of commercial vehicle drivers have, at one time or another, been infuriated by one set of circumstances or another as they’ve carried out their daily duties behind the wheel.
Not only that, but they also admitted to slinging other drivers volleys of verbal abuse, just for good measure. In order to help retain clean licenses and avoid the risk of damaging no claims bonuses on fleet van insurance policies, Swinton have issued the following set of guidelines to follow whenever the temptation arises for the 53% of ill-tempered survey participants lose their cool with other road users, again:
Look other drivers in the eye, but in a manner that you could do so again if you were away from the environment of your job and vehicle. It is possible to look at someone in a non-aggressive manner as well as proffer a look that contains the wrath of Beelzebub, himself.
Indicate in time! One of the biggest avoidable causes for van insurance claims is when the van driver, assuming that the driver in front knows the roads as well as he or she, doesn’t anticipate a sudden turn off. Keep plenty of distance between your van and the car in front. At this time of year, this is more important than ever, although is a factor that never should be overlooked. Black ice on the roads is impossible to spot or predict and, once your front wheels catch the edge of a patch, the control of your vehicle is in God’s hands until it either clears the hazard or hits something.
With the van insurance sector suffering the effect, like all automotive premiums recently, of unqualified ‘whiplash‘ injuries, you do not want to be the driver responsible for spoiling a hitherto clean van insurance history, thus negating two years worth of no claims bonus, just for being too close to the vehicle in front. Whatever the circumstances of any such accident, it is almost unheard of for the ruling to go against the car in front.
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