Fleet interest and orders for Licence Check’s new driver e-learning service has risen during lockdown as businesses make the most of lockdown to enhance training.
Available within Licence Check’s DAVIS platform, the service has been created in conjunction with IAM RoadSmart, especially for companies that have had to furlough their drivers during the pandemic; under HMRC furlough rules, training of employees is permitted provided they are not making money for their employer or offering services associated with their employment. Furloughed workers are also permitted to provide voluntary services whilst off work.
As a result, the current period of enforced inactivity could present employees and volunteers with an opportunity to improve their driving skills, attitude to risk, hazard awareness and observational skills in a virtual environment for the benefit of themselves and other road users.
The timing of the recent launch of DAVIS e-learning would seem to be ideal as it can be completed remotely by drivers, help improve their behaviours and decrease the businesses’ overall risk profile with little management intervention.
Licence Check general manager, Terry Hiles commented: “We have seen rising levels of interest in e-learning since we went into lockdown as many businesses have been forced to work remotely. And, for some businesses, this has been an opportunity to ask their drivers to complete the initial profiling and then the recommended e-learning modules available.”
In the e-learning programme, which is available to all users of Licence Check’s Driver and Vehicle Information Solution, DAVIS, initial driver profiling centres on four key areas of risk: driver attitude, hazard perception, observation and knowledge.
Questions are specific to the type of vehicle driven – from cars through to PSVs and HGVs – and the results are fed directly into DAVIS. This allows drivers’ risk profiles to be updated with little involvement from their line managers, flagging up any areas which may require additional interventions or attention.
There are currently 22 e-learning modules available through an online e-learning hub and all are designed to help drivers further develop their knowledge and skills. These include driving in cities, eco-driving, speed awareness, vehicle safety checks, concentration and observation and mobile phone use – and many more.
The e-learning programme aims to provide a seamless learning journey communicated directly with the driver, which requires only minimal intervention from fleet, HR or operations managers. The driver’s responses and results in each section are reported in DAVIS and included in the driver’s aggregated risk profile.
