Nigel Grainger brings together a related set of skills that all fleets require, to greater or lesser
degrees, but which may not have the staffing or the skills to fulfil those needs.
Bringing his wealth of experience in all areas of fleet management he offers a bespoke service through his company Fleet Risk Consultants, providing you with a cost effective fleet that complies fully with your 'duty of care' requirements.Accidents and Euro NCAP
How can you increase your chances of surviving car accidents?
Many businesses take the Euro NCAP ratings into account when deciding on which vehicles to allow onto their choose lists or fleets. We at Fleet Risk Consultants have been wary of this approach for many years now and after watching the real-time crash test on Fifth Gear last night, we feel vindicated in our view.
The problem with the Euro NCAP standard is that it targets the manufacturers to achieve certain safety standards for front impact and pedestrian impacts. This makes the car builders work to hit those standards as they get star awarded for their achievements.
If you did not see the crash test on Fifth Gear I am sure they will have the footage on their website soon, but in essence the crashed a medium HGV (7,500kg Gross Vehicle Weight) into a people carrier with two reasonably sized children in the seats at the back of the vehicle (the boot area). The impact speed was around 40mph and the impact would have resulted in the probable death of the rear seat occupants.
If your current policy is to specify Euro NCAP you should perhaps consider making changes, but check with a professional first. If you don’t have a policy then you should call our team for advice now.
Nigel Grainger
Senior Consultant
January 7th, 2009 at 11:08 am
It is not difficult to criticize Euro NCAP’s tests. Reality is that Euro NCAP has done more for safety than any other organization and that NCAP ratings have proven real world relevance. Of course, the frontal off-set test is a generalization of one of the most frequent accident scenarios and certainly does not represent every accident on the road. To advise not to use ratings on the basis of one crash test however is wide of the mark.
January 7th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
I am not critical of the tests that Euro NCAP undertake or the results they provide. They have saved countless lives for the occupants of vehicles which strike objects to the front and side of their vehicle. My issue is with the obsessive focus on achieving a high score in the test, sometimes at the expense of developing better protection from other types of impact.
The other potential issue is, if I allow people to travel in a vehicle that only has 4 stars or less am I guilty of providing equipment that is not the safest available in the market. That is why we do not advise consideration of the ratings in the decision process as most fleet vehicles are of a safe standard anyway.
December 20th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
I like how you keep updating your blog, it is much easier to use a Wordpress blog than to use a Blogger, check mine out: http://crashcoursedriving.wordpress.com/