Fleet Driver Training & Driving for Work

Talking to someone who has done the research the other day, I found out that in the public sector alone, 35% of fleet drivers have never received any driver training.

This is slightly worrying - if the public sector has this many un-trained drivers, what the heck is happening in the private sector? We know that the average white van man gets little or no training, in part because many of them work for themselves so have to keep their costs down, but there must be millions of people who drive during the course of their work who simply do not know about their responsibilities.

Are there still fleet managers and company directors who don't know about them? I suspect so. Any other specialist machinery (often with risk factors well below driving) nearly always comes with a requirement to undertake specialist training - and keep this training current. Can you imagine a chainsaw operator trained 25 years ago not having any further training?

In many situations there is a legal requirement that if something is done for a job, the qualification must be "refreshed" in some way every year or five - simply in order to continue working.

So just a suggestion - maybe the driving test should only qualify someone to drive for personal use. If you need to drive at work you should have to gain a new qualification and keep up with new regulations and prove your continued high standard every few years?

Or maybe I'm just saying that coz I'd earn more?!