Most of us have no idea of how grim it must be, to be standing in the dock on trial for doing something wrong. It must be even worse to be up before the judge for a misdeed that somebody else has committed.

If you manage vehicles, you need to prepare for exactly that to happen to you. Every day, you send people out to drive on your behalf, trusting them to do a good job. You know them, you know that their licences are valid, their insurance and tax are up to date, their vehicles are in good order, so you have no worries.

Wrong.

As each of these drivers puts the key into the ignition, you become responsible for their actions. You have a legal duty of care, not just to them but to anyone else that they might encounter while driving for you. Some fleet managers, happily, might spend a whole career without having to deal with the aftermath of a serious incident. But…

If one of your people is involved in something tragic, a spotlight will swing in your direction and questions will be asked. Could the accident have been avoided with more, better or different training? If so, you may need to reach for your legal support. Accidents do just happen, but only when something causes them.

That ‘something’ is, far too frequently, a driver getting it wrong. When a driver does foul up, if it seems that better management or training or might have prevented a serious accident, guess who is going to be called in for questioning? You ignore this at your peril.

Recently issued statistics show that drivers are becoming more careless, making worse decisions, not paying full attention to the law. If you could be held responsible for somebody else’s poor driving, particularly when the consequences could be tragic or costly, you should take steps to minimise your exposure. Start by finding out more, here: http://ow.ly/Uvth8