National Highways is looking at introducing new tools, training and leveraging existing technology to further reduce incidents on the strategic road network (SRN).

Mark Cartwright, National Highways head of commercial vehicle incident prevention, will deliver a presentation at this year’s Fleet & Mobility Live introducing the recently renamed organisation (formerly Highways England) and how it wants to work with van and truck fleets to improve safety.

Delegates attending the event, which is free to attend for fleet decision makers and takes place on October 5 and 6 at the NEC, near Birmingham, will gain access to 20 seminar sessions from over 25 expert speakers across three theatre areas: Operational Excellence, Strategy and Benefits Box.

Cartwright told Fleet News: “We’ve always had a strong relationship and good communication with the heavy goods vehicle (HGV) industry, but we want to speak with van fleets a lot more.

“The message we’re trying to get across is that we want to help and we’re putting together a package of tools and developing new ideas to help reduce incidents on the roads.”

This includes the launch of the Van Driver Toolkit aimed at helping organisations keep vans and drivers safe, legal and ensure they comply with legislation.

The toolkit aims to cut through the myths to keep drivers safe, vans legal and to ensure employers comply with not just road traffic legislation but also their health and safety at work responsibilities.

Cartwright says: “We’re looking at the future and what we can introduce to support fleets further. This includes areas like post-crash support, expanded e-learning and first aid training.”

A potentially transformational development Cartwright is currently working on is expanding National Highways’ Ping trial that saw it use its sensor network on the SRN to flag driver behaviour issues to fleets that opted in.

Further details will be revealed at Fleet & Mobility Live next month.

Cartwright adds: “We’re looking at how we can utilise existing infrastructure to better help fleets. We want to expand Ping further with a wider trial for fleets that would like to get involved.”

Register for Fleet & Mobility Live now for free.