Help tackle drink and drug-driving this festive season

Like all site-based industries, landscaping can involve a lot of commuting and is therefore relatively exposed to the dangers of knowingly or unknowingly driving while impaired, but there are resources available to help managers reduce the risks.

Driving for Better Business – a National Highways initiative aimed at making business driving safer – has produced a range of free resources to help businesses raise awareness among drivers and change behaviour, including:

• An article to share with your drivers on drink and drug driving
• Short safety messages on impairment to send your drivers on their devices
• Drug and drink impairment posters for your staff noticeboards
• Information sheets from our Van Driver and Care Driver Toolkits

Statistics suggest drug driving has become more of an issue in recent years, with a 400% rise in drug driving since March 2020 compared with 250% for drink driving, while deaths from drug driving rose by 38% between 2022 and 2023 compared to 14% from drink driving.

In terms of drug impairment, it is important to be aware of the risks posed by self-prescribed and over the counter drugs as well as recreational drugs, something which Driving for Better Business has also written about.