The government launched its new Road Safety Strategy on 6 January 2026, the first one in over a decade. It has been built to restart progress after a “lost decade” and cut deaths and serious injuries through a Safe System approach that treats serious harm as preventable, even when human error occurs.
Key stats at a glance
- National targets: 65% reduction in people killed or seriously injured (KSI) on Great Britain’s roads by 2035; 70% reduction for children under 16 (baseline: 2022–2024).
- 2024 harm: 1,602 people killed; 27,865 seriously injured; someone killed or seriously injured every ~18 minutes.
- Economic impact (2024): £6.9bn lost output; £264m police costs; ~£1bn medical and ambulance costs.
- Work-related exposure: an estimated 1 in 3 UK road traffic fatalities involve someone driving or riding for work.
- Human factors: ~9 in 10 collisions have human driver error as a contributory factor.
- Drink driving: 1 in 6 road fatalities involve drink driving (strategy flags consultation and preventative tech such as alcohol interlocks).
- Seatbelts: 25% of car occupant fatalities in 2024 were not wearing seatbelts.
- Route risk: road users are six times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on rural roads versus motorways.
Within the strategy, the government has set two national targets: a 65% reduction in people killed or seriously injured on Great Britain’s roads by 2035, and a 70% reduction for children under 16, using a 2022–2024 baseline.
1,602 people were killed and 27,865 were seriously injured in 2024, with someone killed or seriously injured every 18 minutes.
The strategy also frames road harm as a material economic and public service issue, citing collision-related costs including £6.9bn in lost output, £264m in police costs, and around £1bn in medical and ambulance costs in 2024.
Why driving for work should be a workplace safety priority
An estimated 1 in 3 UK road traffic fatalities involve someone driving or riding for work. That single statistic should change the employer lens. If an organisation requires any driving or riding as part of work, road risk is no longer a “fleet issue” or “driver behaviour issue”; it is a mainstream occupational risk with predictable causes and controllable mitigations.
The strategy also links this risk to the growth of delivery models and the gig economy, signalling rising exposure through contractors, couriers and mixed employment arrangements, not just traditional employees.
What the strategy is trying to do
The approach is a Safe System. A shared responsibility across safer road users, safer vehicles, safer speeds, safer roads/roadsides, and post-crash response, supported by regulation, standards, enforcement, data, monitoring and education. This is designed to move beyond “blame the driver” and reduce the conditions that make high-severity outcomes likely.
It prioritises the “Fatal Four” offences:
- Speeding
- drink and drug driving
- not wearing seatbelts
- distraction such as mobile phone use.
It also justifies that focus with the scale of human factors: approximately 9 in 10 collisions have human driver error as a contributory factor.
For employers, that translates directly into fatigue controls, journey planning, time pressure, supervision, distraction rules, and competence assurance.
How this will affect employers and employees
A clearer employer standard is being piloted
The strategy introduces a National Work-Related Road Safety Charter pilot for businesses that require people to drive or ride for work, including HGVs, LGVs, cars, motorcycles, e-cycles and cycles.
The charter is intended to promote good practice and accountability and will be developed with industry, drawing on existing schemes and programmes.
The pilot will run for two years, be evaluated, and the strategy states that regulatory measures will be considered if voluntary engagement is insufficient to reduce work-related road risk.
Implication: employers should expect greater scrutiny of work-related road risk management, including contractor and “grey fleet” journeys, not only owned fleets.
Enforcement and behaviours will tighten around known killers
The document flags that in 2023, 1 in 6 fatalities were in drink-drive collisions, supporting consultation on lowering the drink-drive limit and tougher action on drink/drug driving, including alcohol interlocks and licence suspension powers in certain scenarios.
It also highlights seatbelt harm. In 2024, 25% of car occupant fatalities were not wearing seatbelts, alongside proposals to introduce penalty points for seatbelt offences.
Implication: employers need explicit, enforceable driving-for-work rules and evidence of control fit-to-drive (not just “under the limit”), mandatory seatbelt use with checks and consequences, and a no-interaction mobile phone policy embedded into induction, contractor/grey-fleet requirements, supervision, and incident investigation so compliance can be demonstrated, not assumed.
Rural and high-risk journey profiles need explicit control
The strategy notes road users are six times more likely to be killed or seriously injured on rural roads versus motorways.
For many organisations, the highest exposure is not city-centre driving; it is rural field travel, night driving, adverse weather, and time-pressured call-outs.
Implication: risk assessments and journey planning need to reflect the routes staff actually drive, not generic commuting assumptions.
Work-related harm will be measured more directly
The strategy includes an SPI for the estimated number of people killed or seriously injured in collisions involving someone driving/riding for work or working on the roads.
Implication: employers should treat work-related road risk as a reportable business outcome define scope (employees, contractors, grey fleet, road workers), assign accountable ownership, capture and code all work-related road incidents/near misses consistently, track leading indicators (fatigue, speeding, seatbelts, distraction, route risk), and be able to evidence that controls are implemented, monitored, and improved through investigation and corrective action.
What safety leaders should be considering now
This is most urgent in sectors with frequent driving for work such as but not limited to:
- logistics and distribution
- construction and civil engineering
- utilities and infrastructure maintenance
- facilities management
- healthcare and community care
- housing and property services
- field sales/service engineering
- public sector enforcement and inspections
- and any organisation operating shift work or lone working.
The controls below align directly to the strategy’s risk logic and enforcement direction.
Governance and scope
- Define what counts as “driving for work” across employees, contractors, agency staff, volunteers and gig-economy deliveries; include grey fleet and occasional drivers.
- Assign accountable ownership with leadership reporting, not just transport administration.
- Treat work-related road risk as part of the safety management system: risk assessment, competence, supervision, incident learning and corrective actions.
Competence, authorisation and supervision
- Move from “licence equals competence” to task authorisation: restrict high-risk conditions until capability is evidenced (night driving, rural routes, towing, high-mileage days, adverse weather, passenger carriage, load handling).
- Set minimum expectations for anyone riding for work (including e-cycles/cycles where relevant), consistent with the charter’s broad scope across vehicle types.
Impairment, distraction and seatbelts as workplace rules
- Set an impairment standard that is operational (“fit to drive”), not just legal (“under the limit”), aligned to the strategy’s intent to tighten drink/drug controls.
- Zero tolerance on non-use of seatbelts, backed by monitoring and consequence management, reflecting that 25% of car occupant fatalities were not belted in 2024.
- A single clear mobile phone rule with no work tasks that require interaction while moving; treat distraction as a management issue consistent with the “Fatal Four” focus.
Remove time pressure as a hazard
- Put travel time into schedules and job planning; remove incentives that reward rushing.
- Apply route risk controls for rural travel, including seasonal and weather triggers, reflecting the higher severity profile on rural roads.
Vehicle standards and procurement
- Set minimum safety standards for fleet and grey fleet (roadworthiness, tyres, maintenance discipline, defect reporting).
- Align fleet replacement with evolving safety technology expectations; the strategy’s direction is explicit that technology must be harnessed to improve safety.
Data, investigation, learning
- Investigate collisions and near misses as system failures (planning, fatigue, supervision, vehicle condition), consistent with the Safe System principle that responsibility is shared.
- Track leading indicators that map to the strategy: speeding, seatbelt compliance, impairment risk, distraction, and high-risk routes, then act on trends.
Every organisation has exposure through commuting, business travel, and the knock-on impact of road incidents: absence, trauma, operational disruption, reputational harm and welfare duty.
The practical shift is to treat road exposure as a predictable risk pathway: plan work to avoid rushed journeys, normalise “stop and delay” decisions, and embed road safety expectations into culture the same way as any other high-consequence hazard.
If you don’t already treat driving as a work risk, you can use this checklist
Confirm you have “driving for work” in scope
- Include client/site visits, meetings, training travel, deliveries/collections, call-outs, lone working travel, grey fleet, rentals, contractors.
Add a simple driving-for-work risk assessment template
- When driving is permitted vs avoidable (remote first).
- Common high-risk conditions: night driving, rural routes, adverse weather, long mileage days.
Embed a basic journey planning step into work tasks
- Planned route/time, realistic schedules, breaks, check-in/escalation if delayed.
Make “fit to drive” a standard pre-task check
- Fatigue, illness, medication, alcohol/drugs, stress, recent long drives, shift patterns.
Set three non-negotiable rules in your templates
- Seatbelts always.
- No phone interaction while moving.
- No driving if unfit (operational standard, not just legal limit).
Add a quick vehicle and driver evidence capture for grey fleet
- Licence validity, insurance for business use, MOT/roadworthiness, tyres/lights, defect reporting.
Create a simple incident/near-miss reporting category for road events
- Collision, near miss, breakdown/defect, fatigue event, distraction, speeding allegation.
- Investigate as a work system issue (planning, workload, supervision), not just driver behaviour.
Add a “stop authority” line to every relevant task template
- Staff can delay/abort travel for fatigue, weather, unsafe vehicle, or schedule pressure without penalty.
