Driving for better road safety

As an equine vet and researcher, a large proportion of my working life has been spent behind the wheel generally doing at least one other task while driving.

I am a self-confessed bad driver. A friend of mine likes to recount a tale where I was confident I could safely overtake an Aston Martin uphill with a truck gunning towards us – we did overtake the Aston Martin, but definitely not safely.

My unsafe driving has been put under the spotlight after completing a driver speeding awareness course, and the loss of a colleague in a road traffic collision (RTC) brought home the devastating consequences. As large animal vets spend a lot of their working lives driving to their patients and using their cars as mini offices, I wanted to use this opportunity to bring road safety to the forefront of vets’ minds.

Likelihood of vets having RTCs

According to the RAC Foundation, 60% of all RTC fatalities occur on country roads and one in three accidents on UK roads occur while the vehicle is being driven for work¹. Both statistics are highly applicable to vets.

In 2000, 80% of fatal accidents reported in German vet practices were while driving². Some individual risk factors for work-related accidents – including high stress levels, anxiety and tiredness – seem intuitive and very applicable to vets.

In one study, UK vets were reported to have higher levels of work-related stress compared to the general population, where long working hours and case anxiety were the greatest contributors to stress developing³.

Trimpop et al⁴ reported a significantly higher incidence of work-related driving accidents in German vets who had worked more than 48 hours per week. Interestingly, in this study, the incidence of non-driving, work-related accidents did not increase as the working week peaked over 48 hours. This really highlights the risk to the safety of vets and road users in contact with vets that work and drive for long time periods.

I can definitely remember driving my car into a concrete post after a heavy weekend on call. Other risk factors for RTCs and injuries occurring are speeding, drink driving and not wearing a seat belt. Speeding has definitely played a large part in my “bad” driving and particularly occurs when I am stressed and on my way to emergencies.

The Government’s THINK! campaign explains a pedestrian is four times more likely to die if hit at 40mph than 30mph. From the data available I think it clearly shows vets are affected by many factors that can predispose to RTCs, so reducing the effects these factors have on driving – where possible – has to be recommended.

A mobile office

Many vets spend inordinate lengths of time in their cars, eventually turning them in to mini offices. This causes these moving vehicles to become places where billing, telephone calls, clinical queries and email replies are performed. These mobile offices can also house dogs – especially for large animal vets, where they offer companionship and, sometimes, moral support (Figure 1).

Mobile phone use while driving is recognised to be a major contributor to RTCs; in 2011, 1.3 million RTCs were associated with mobile phone use in the US4. All practice cars should be fitted with hands-free technology, but, worryingly, even talking on a hands-free device can make the risk of crashing 1.3 times more likely than simply driving⁵.

Texting can remove your concentration from the road for a minimum of five seconds, meaning you can travel the length of a football field without actually looking where you are going.

I will admit to at least three counts of fender bending involving texting while driving – all at low speed, with no causalities – during my residency. These were all caused by me trying to do too many things at once and after the last incident, where a bear-sized man screamed at me for hitting his car, I have stopped texting and driving.

But when you spend a good proportion of your working day on the road it is all too tempting (and understandable) to knock things from your to-do list while stuck in traffic.

When we drive to farm calls, it is not just the safety of ourselves and other road users we should think about, but also the safety of any passengers. Emergency medical services students are a regular passenger type for vets, and I certainly had one student comment on my “individual” driving style.

I know a superb vet whose dog would climb around her shoulders and drape scarf-like while she drove and, although this never caused any issues, it could have resulted in severe injury to her and the dog if an accident had occurred.

Risk factors and deterrents

The Government periodically releases shocking adverts to make us more aware of road safety. But breaking bad driving habits takes more than just awareness.

For me attending a speeding course, where they re-educate you on road safety, was a huge wake-up call. Being two minutes earlier to a colic is not worth a life. Driving and living more mindfully is a message that was introduced at the speeding course and resonated completely with me.

My phone now travels in the boot – I can still make telephone calls – meaning I can’t text or check emails when I drive. Also, I consciously try (being the operative word) to moderate my road rage. Fines and prosecutions may act as deterrents for some people, as they could jeopardise your work. They don’t scare the stuffing out of me enough to be an effective deterrent, whereas killing my dog or someone else does.

As work-related stress and long working hours have been highlighted as significant contributors to making driving errors, reducing these will help to make vets safer drivers. Managing stress and anxiety is very much a hot topic at the moment, with the Vet Futures project – launched by the RCVS and BVA – making this topic the key to future support of vets.

Hopefully, by supporting vets to reduce stress and working times – and if vets individually drive with more consciousness – more people will reach 80 and above.