National Highways CEO Endorses National Safety Conference for the Strategic Road Network

National Highways’ Chief Executive Officer, Nick Harris, has appealed to fleets across the UK to work together with National Highways if it is to achieve its goal of zero harm on the strategic road network (SRN).

Driving is one of the most hazardous things we do in our work or personal lives,” Nick told the fleet audience at the Commercial Vehicle Safety on the Strategic Road Network Conference in March 2023.

“We have huge teams of engineers, technologists, behaviour and safety experts to bring safety to the strategic road network. However, we cannot do it unilaterally. We need fleets to work with us.”

Although UK roads are some of the safest in the world, he says the organisation is not content to accept five fatalities and 60+ serious injuries on the roads every day.

“Behind every statistic, there is a tragedy. There is a family grieving. It is always personal. And the biggest, most important change we can make is in driver behaviour,” Nick told delegates. “#DrivingChange to achieve zero harm is the most important thing we can do.”

The conference marked a sea change in National Highways’ identity and approach to its role. “There has been an important shift for National Highways from an engineering company which built roads, to a company which managed roads, and now as a service provider, in which our role is to ensure a safe and reliable strategic road network,” said Nick.

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There is often a disconnect between organisations’ on-site health and safety and their management of road risk. Despite half the vehicles registered in the UK being used for work purposes, health and safety observance often does not follow a driver and vehicle past the gates.

“Every sector has a great focus on health and safety in the UK. We think about hazards and behavioural safety in the office, in depots and on construction sites –but we do not translate that awareness and careful management to the road. Driving is just seen as something everyone does.

“However most of the traffic on the strategic road network is being used for work. Making sure that those people are fit to drive and capable of making good decisions which minimise risk to themselves and other road users is essential,” he said.

“Legal compliance alone does not deliver the levels of safety we aspire to, or that we hope fleets aspire to,” he said. “We need fleets to extend their sense of health and safety onto the roads and to use their power of procurement to influence their suppliers to do the same.”

He cites the example of an M62 closure caused by a truck jack-knifing. The vehicles’ tyres had just 1mm tread depth – yet that is legal in the UK, although it wouldn’t be in Europe.

“Many vehicles fail their MOTs because their tyres are too worn – yet where did that defect figure in the employeremployee relationship while the vehicle was being used prior to its MOT?” he asked. National Highways is incorporating technology at every level in order to further facilitate safety, including artificial intelligence- enhanced CCTV, connectivity and moves to support autonomous vehicles and intelligent networks.

However unless fleet organisations extend their approach to health and safety to the roads and disseminate this requirement through their supply chains, the death toll on UK roads will not reduce.

This is because as the conference strapline declared: “Vehicles don’t crash… people crash.” The driver - their training, attitudes and behaviours – are the crucial component in road safety. And the driver of an at-work vehicle is an employee, who can therefore be managed, trained and expected to behave in a professional and safety-conscious manner.

“We all have the power to influence others in our organisation and in those organisations we work with,” said Nick. “We can influence friends and family. We can manage our own drivers well, and include clauses requiring legal compliance and work-related road-risk management in our supplier contracts.

“Together we can drive change.”

Presentations, videos and resources from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Conference on the Strategic Road Network conference are available at drivingchange.info