Fleet Support Group has formed a new partnership with driving education company a²om that is aimed at putting all client companies’ employees and their families on the road to a safer future.
The a²om academy was launched last year and aimed at young drivers and those approaching the age when they will apply for a provisional licence and start driving lessons - road crashes are the single biggest killer of young people in the UK with almost 1,200 young drivers killed or seriously injured on the roads every year.
Having also launched a BTEC level two qualification in ‘driving science’ - equivalent to a GCSE - the first of its kind in the world earlier this year, a²om is looking to branch into other sectors.
The new partnership sees the a²om academy make available to employees and their families of Fleet Support Group RiskMaster customers their comprehensive range of driving education courses.
The a²om learning suite includes an interactive e-learning course of 10 modules and a neuroscientific brain-training tool.
Managing director of the a2om academy Gary Austin, who was chief executive of the government’s Driving Standards Agency for six years until 2005, said: “Young drivers do not make a conscious choice to have a crash. Crashes occur because the frontal lobe of the brain is not mature enough to recognise hazards that occur when a young person is driving.
“If we can exercise young drivers’ brains and accelerate development of that section of the brain using neuroscientific stimulation techniques, then they will respond to driving situations in a more mature way and the number of crashes involving them will reduce.”
Fleet Support Group is currently moving into the final development and pilot stages of its updated industry-leading safe driving-focused RiskMaster programme.
RiskMaster II will be launched in the first quarter of 2009 - more details will appear in December’s Flagship - and customers will be able to gain access to the a2om academy programme through the website
The roll out of RiskMaster II will enable customers using the system to promote the RiskMaster graduate programme via single click on the website to a whole new world of safer driving educational features.
Both Fleet Support Group and the a2om academy are members of the Government’s Driving for Better Business programme, which is managed by road safety charity RoadSafe and aims to reduce the number of road crashes involving at-work drivers.
Fleet Support Group chairman Geoffrey Bray said: “Crashes are devastating for families and we want to take effective action to prevent such tragedies happening. That is why we have formed a partnership with a2om and will promote their innovative safe driving initiatives to our customers.”