Driver safety – is your organisation considering all the options?

Driver safety has always been a consideration for fleet operators however since the chaotic scenes in Calais that filled our social media feeds and television screens a few years ago, organisations are pushing it further up the boardroom agenda. While the media coverage of issues in Calais, has dissipated recently the threats are still very much present and in fact have extended to other ports such as Dunkirk, Ostend, Zeebrugge, Dieppe, Cherbourg, Ouistreham.

The problem frequently starts with some sort of road blockade, creating a traffic jam allowing those targeting freight vehicles for clandestine travel the time and opportunity they need to swarm and board unprotected vehicles, often bringing with it threatening behaviour towards any driver that attempts to intervene and frequently causing freight cargo to be contaminated and significantly devalued.

So, can the discussions in the boardroom ever make a material difference to the driver, who up until now appears to have had to fight this battle on the border in isolation?

Measures to secure freight vehicles have been limited for some time to padlocks; deadlocks; plastic or tin security seals and door alarms, all of which while proactive and a step in the right direction for protecting freight don’t actually provide any protection for the driver.

The newly launched Driver Buddy Defence Vehicle Security System (DBS) combines freight security with driver safety by helping protect, detect and deter criminal activity targeted at freight and drivers. Whether drivers are stuck in a traffic jam or taking mandated breaks in their cab, with the DBS system in place drivers can literally rest assured that they will be alerted by the system if any attempts to board their trailer are made. If an attempt to board the trailer is made the driver can declare the intrusion at an appropriate time when they have relevant support and protection around them instead of confronting them unwittingly and in isolation.