Companies responsible for driving
Last updated 11:19, Monday, 07 April 2008
A NEW law means companies could be held responsible if their staff’s bad driving has fatal consequences.
The aim of the Corporate Manslaughter Act, which came into effect yesterday, is to ensure companies push health and safety adequately onto their employees.
Road safety campaigner Andrew McGavin said: “This new law is about corporate responsibility and liability. It links a company’s guilt to the gross negligence of an individual who is said to embody the company.
“And that means businesses need to be on top of important road safety issues such as their drivers using handheld mobile phones while driving.
“If a driver on company business kills someone while using a mobile, the company directors could be held responsible for not having a clear enforceable policy in place, or not providing hands-free kits.”
Mr McGavin set up BetterDrivingPlease.com in 2006, encouraging people to report motorists they have seen driving badly, including drivers on company business.
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