D r i vers f ree t ra i n i n g
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• by Tim Maughan
Isuzu Truck has slammed the -machoattitude of commercial vehicle drivers who are refusing to attend training courses which could save their businesses up to £1,500 a year—even when they are free. Since January, Isuzu has been offering every haulier who buys one of its vehicles a driver training package called Drive and Survive. But so far the take-up has been just 10%.
Under the scheme, Ism arranges tuition with a driver training school, The four-hour session works on defensive driver skills, perception skills and getting the best performance out of Isuzu vehicles. Training concentrates on tyre wear and reducing fuel consumption (for a full description of the course see page 44).
Sales director Mike Rogers says: "It seems incredible that fleet managers are not mare actively encouraging drivers to take up this training when it can mean a saving of about .E1,500 a year an a vehicle's running costs.
"There is no downside to driver training," he adds. "It seems the only thing getting in the way is the drivers macho 'I don't need training' attitude. This year we will sell about 700 3.5-tonne vehicles, which means that if this trend continues fewer than 70 drivers of these vehicles will have been trained."
Isuzu Truck operations director Bob
Houghton says: We were surprised by the low take-up, but the training will continue. Those that take the training are seeing the results,"