Picture the scene: an inattentive driver has just run his car into the back of a stationary van, shunting it forward onto a zebra crossing and into a mother pushing a baby-buggy. A crowd has gathered from nowhere, all taking photographs for their Facebook pages. Sirens can be heard from the approaching ambulance and police car. The car driver and the mother are tending to the injured infant, while the van driver is phoning the office. So, who is to blame?

Give yourself a point for identifying the car driver, but have ten bonus points if you answered that it does not matter whose fault it was.

Within minutes, social media will be showing pictures of the zebra crossing, with a van on top of a baby-buggy and its driver using his mobile, while somebody else looks after the accident victim. Now, the horrible bit: the van has a huge company logo on the side. The same logo is on the driver’s uniform. Your logo.

Weeks from now, the car driver will be convicted of driving while intoxicated and your driver will be completely exonerated. The child will have recovered from minor bruising within 48 hours and the buggy will have been found to be undamaged almost immediately. Unfortunately, virtually nobody will be taking to Facebook to report these facts, if they even know them. Meanwhile, the original accident shots have gone viral, quietly helped on their way by one of your less scrupulous competitors. The cost to your reputation? Yikes.

You can not legislate for other people’s stupidity, but there are plenty of steps that can be taken to ensure that an accident is rarely or never your driver’s fault. If blame can be laid at your feet, the extent of the liability could be frightening. When it comes to fleet liabilities, and the options for minimising exposure to risk, guessing is not an option.

Fleet managers can find straightforward, succinct guidance on fleet vulnerabilities and how to manage them in the latest online flip-book in the Fleet Matters series. Available now, it has to be required reading for anyone whose vehicles are ever driven on company business. You can read it, free, at http://www.fuelcardservices.com/fleet-matters/.