Driver First Assist has published a white paper that makes the case for a structured national post-road traffic accident response system aligned with the recently-released Road Safety Strategy (RSS) and its commitment to the Safe System approach.
Titled Safer Roads, Stronger Communities, the white paper supports the Strategy’s direction of travel by focusing on what Driver First Assist says is one of the least developed but most time critical aspects of road safety: what happens immediately after a collision and before emergency services arrive.
It is written by Founder and Chief Executive David Higginbottom, with the foreword from former Senior Traffic Commissioner Beverley Bell.
The not-for-profit works in partnership with emergency services to equip vocational drivers, including those of coaches and buses, with the skills to respond safely and effectively at the scene of collisions and other incidents. Mr Higginbottom has questioned whether the RSS overlooks the importance of the first minutes after a crash.
While the Strategy does not set out a specific national post-crash response programme, the white paper provides what he says is “an already developed practical, scalable framework for delivery, focused on equipping drivers with the skills to respond safely, lawfully and effectively at the scene of road traffic collisions.”
The white paper argues that while prevention remains vital, road safety policy must also address the reality that professional and at-work drivers are present on the road network every day, often arriving at incidents before emergency responders.
“With the proper training and support, this group represents a latent national capability to reduce harm, save lives, and inform outcomes,” Driver First Assist believes. The white paper notes several broader and longstanding issues that a structured post-crash response system could address:
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- Tackling a persistent inequality in first aid provision. While fixed-site employees are routinely supported with trained first aiders and emergency procedures, drivers and other mobile workers are often left unsupported at the roadside despite being exposed to foreseeable risk as part of their work
- Defining how post-crash preparedness helps businesses to meet their regulatory responsibilities, particularly under health and safety legislation that requires them to assess risk and provide appropriate training for work-related activities, including driving
- Delivering transferrable life skills for drivers, including dynamic risk assessment, situational awareness, trauma-informed first aid, and effective decision making under pressure – qualities that are relevant “far beyond the road,” the organisation observes.
Reflecting on the evidence base for early intervention, Professor of Emergency Medicine and lead of the Road Injury Chain of Survival research Tim Nutbeam notes how early intervention “is a critical link in the chain of survival following road traffic collisions.”
He believes that developing the skills and confidence of those who are already on the scene of an incident “aligns strongly with the evidence and complements the work being done across emergency services and trauma systems.”
The white paper puts forward how empowering drivers in that way promotes safer behaviour overall, reinforcing professionalism, responsibility and confidence, and helps those drivers to become safer and more capable employees across all aspects of their work.
Adds Mr Higginbottom: “The government’s Strategy sets a clear direction of travel. Our white paper is about delivery.
“A national post-crash response system equips drivers to respond safely at the scene of incidents, addresses a longstanding inequality in first aid provision, helps employers to meet their legal obligations, and equips people with life skills that extend far beyond the road.
“We are not proposing something theoretical; we are showing how an existing, proven capability can be scaled in support of national policy.”
Download the Driver First Assist white paper here, and the Road Safety Strategy here.
