Should All Business Vehicles Be Fitted With Cameras?
Driving is a necessary part of working life for many people. Travelling around for meetings, making deliveries or to carry out tasks at different locations is commonplace. But, while it’s easy to focus on driving as merely a means to an end, it can actually be quite a dangerous part of any job.
The RAC estimates that up to one in three crashes involves a vehicle being driven for work, with 200 deaths and serious injuries a week among employees who are on the roads.
Those figures alone show that businesses need to be taking their vehicles – and the people within them – seriously. And this matter of safety is two-pronged. Not only do you want to protect both driver and vehicle from physical harm, but you also need to protect your business should an accident occur – with the cost to repair and replace vehicles and in lost productivity often proving substantial.
Safety
If we deal first with safety we can see a very clear case for the need for cameras to be fitted to all business vehicles. Consider the blind spot on a large lorry, for example. This can be a sizeable area to the side of the vehicle that simply cannot be viewed by mirrors alone. The spot can cause particular problems for cyclists, pedestrians or with ‘sideswiping’ on motorways.
Cameras can help to eliminate that blind spot, helping to lift a risk off the shoulders of drivers. Some systems offer a 360-degree view for the driver, arming them with the best possible view of all the potential hazards they might encounter, also making tricky reversing and manoeuvring a much simpler affair. The cameras can work in unison with alarms and sensors to alert a driver to anything they may need to be aware of.
Insurance
Cameras can help to protect you from causing any damage to third parties, but can also protect you from being held responsible for the actions of others. Insurance claims can be a long and costly affair and especially frustrating if your driver was not in the wrong.
A growing desire to be protected from the errant actions of fellow drivers has seen the sale of dash cams rise by 918% in the last 12 months, with one insurer now offering a discount for drivers who have these fitted. The time, money and hassle that these devices – which are now available extremely cheaply – can save makes them worth installing in business vehicles.
These cameras protect against ‘crash for cash’ scammers, who try to engineer collisions they can blame on someone else, and also promote good driving practices among employees too. After all, the camera also captures their behaviour behind the wheel too.
Dash cams and safety camera systems can be well worth the investment for any business. Firms must treat their vehicles as vital pieces of equipment that need protecting and looking after properly and these devices are an important part of that process. It seems that, over time, there may not even be a question to answer on this score as cameras become a natural part of the driving experience.