Buses take top spot at national awards ceremony

National safety recognition for leading UK busoperator

Leading UK bus operator Arriva has won the coveted topaward at the national Brake Road Safety Awards.

Arriva's 'Best Risk Managed Company of the Year' award wasbacked up with highly commended rankings in the 'Safety in VehicleMaintenance' and 'Road Safety in the Community' awards. And theoperator's London business won the 'Crash Analysis Procedures'award for work identifying and communicating 'accident blackspots'on routes.

The combination of Arriva's efforts in safety has led to anoticeable drop in incidents involving its buses. And thesuccessful initiatives are being shared across the Group's busoperations in mainland Europe.

The judges were impressed with Arriva's 'innovative andsuccessful initiatives across the company' which have reducedincidents and led the way in risk management thinking. The judgescited initiatives from healthy living programmes addressingeyesight, tiredness and stress for drivers, aerial photography of'accident blackspots' to psychometric and hazard perceptiontraining.

Some of the key initiatives which led to the awards were:

• appointing bus drivers as school liaisonofficers in nearly all 100 Arriva bus depots across the UK topromote its 'its not cool to fool' education sessions to childrenwho use buses;
• working to identify accident blackspots alongbus routes involving Arriva's and other road vehicles andcommunicating these to bus drivers through aerial photography andclear guidance;
• introducing a comprehensive maintenance regime standardisedacross the company which has led to exemplary MOT passrates. In many cases, Arriva's vehicle maintenance andinspection standards are higher than the legal requirements;
• Arriva's bus driving simulator – similarto technology used by airline pilots – which was developedwith Cranfield University to help the recruitment, training andassessment of bus drivers across the business. The simulator is thefirst of its kind in Europe;
• awareness campaigns to inform and educate bus drivers aboutwell-being, including healthy eating, over thecounter medicines, exercise and getting a good night's sleep;
• Arriva's ' Lights on for Life' campaign, whichsaw all 6,000 Arriva buses driving with dipped headlights on at alltimes, has helped to significantly reduce accidents. Other buscompanies have since followed Arriva's example;
• Arriva's motto of ' Written by drivers fordrivers' sees bus driver involvement in creating andimplementing road safety initiatives for the benefit of colleaguesand the wider community;
• Arriva has indicated its commitment to improving safety bybecoming a signatory of the European Road SafetyCharter, which aims to achieve a 50 per cent reduction inroad accidents by 2010, a saving of 20,000 lives.

Richard Bowler, finance director for Arriva's UK Bus divisionwas delighted with the announcement. He said:

We put safety at the heart of everything we do. Theseawards recognise and reward the hard work of our Risk Managementteam, led by Lynne Beale, and the commitment that Arriva employees– managers, inspectors, engineers, bus drivers – put into keep safety at the fore of our everyday workinglives.

Notes to editors

• Photographs are available – contact us for details.
• If you are interested in following up any of the aboveinitiatives, please let us know. We can help to set up photoopportunities and give you local information if required.
• Brake is a road safety charity working to stop deaths andinjuries on roads, and working to care for people affected by roadcrashes.