Predicting High Risk Behaviours in a Fleet Setting: Implications and Difficulties Utilising Behaviour Measurement Tools

Fleet and work related motor vehicle crashes represent a substantial physical, emotional and financial cost to the community. Previous estimations have indicated that the total cost of work related road incidents in Australia was in the vicinity of $1.5 billion (Wheatley, 1997). More recent evidence has suggested that the average total insurance cost of a fleet incident to organisations and society is approximately $28, 000 (Davey & Banks, 2005), while the average cost of a fatal crash in the general Australian motoring community is estimated to be $2 million (Austroads, 2006). Furthermore, estimates of the true cost for work related crashes suggest that hidden costs may be somewhere between 8-36 times vehicle repair/replacement costs (Murray et al, 2003). Of note is that a high proportion of work-related deaths and injuries within the overall road toll consist of work-related crashes (Murray et al., 2003; Wheatley, 1997), as work-related traffic injuries have been estimated to be twice as likely to result in death or permanent disability than other workplace accidents (Wheatley, 1997).