Ahead of World Mental Health Day, Charlotte Le Maire, founder and partner at specialist transport law firm LMP Legal, is urging the road transport industry to take a broader view of driver wellbeing, including the support available when drivers find themselves involved in a serious collision.
Her view is that while much of the conversation around driver wellbeing rightly focuses on mental health in their day to day roles, that should also extend to ensuring drivers are properly supported and protected during what can be an extremely stressful and uncertain time.
Charlotte Le Maire commented, ‘There has been some really positive work across our industry to put driver wellbeing higher up the agenda, and I think that should be welcomed, not just ahead of World Mental Health Day, but right across the year.
‘However, I think there is still more we can do to support driver wellbeing as a whole. While it is of course important to consider the wider pressures drivers face, we also need to think about how they are supported during a collision.’
This comes at a time where one in five commercial vehicle drivers claim that they suffer with their mental health, according to a 2024 study by Samsara.
Logistics UK and the RHA have both put greater emphasis on driver wellbeing in recent years to combat this epidemic, recognising that long hours, poor roadside facilities, nutrition, exercise and mental health can all affect those behind the wheel.
Logistics UK has provided practical wellbeing guidance and campaigned for better driver facilities, while the RHA’s Wellbeing Charter covers areas including mental health, resilience, exercise and nutrition.
She continued, ‘These initiatives are vitally important to safeguard our drivers. They work long hours, often at unsociable times, spend extended periods away from home and can face significant pressure and isolation. They also have to contend with the practical challenges of life on the road, from finding suitable places to rest to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
‘It is therefore absolutely right to recognise these pressures and, crucially, encourage employers to take a more proactive approach to supporting their people in their day to day roles.
‘But there is another part of the conversation we need to have – what support and protocols are in place to safeguard a driver’s mental health and wellbeing when something goes wrong, particularly following a serious crash.’
As part of the solution, Charlotte believes operators should do more to provide dedicated serious incident response training and introduce practical measures that support drivers’ wellbeing, both before and after a serious incident.
This includes making sure drivers understand what to do and say if they are involved in a blue light attended incident, who they should contact and what support is available to them, and having a clear incident response procedure, supported by immediate access to specialist legal advice.
Charlotte continued, ‘Being involved in a serious incident can be one of the most stressful experiences a driver will ever face, especially in those initial moments when they are being questioned by police.
‘A million things might be running through their heads – concern about whether someone has been hurt, what will happen to their licence, whether they will lose their job and what the legal consequences might be.
‘Expecting someone to deal with all of that while also trying to understand a complex legal process at the point of a collision is a huge burden.’
From her experience of working with fleet operators of all types across the country, Charlotte suggests that a significant number of drivers do in fact inadvertently implicate themselves at the scene of a blue light attended incident without even realising it.
For a driver who is already likely to be shaken and under significant emotional pressure, she says that having the right support and guidance at this early stage can help reduce some of the uncertainty and anxiety that will likely follow a serious incident, even in the weeks and month afterwards.
She added, ‘It is understandable that, in those circumstances, that a driver might say something simply because they are trying to help or explain what happened, without realising that their words could later be significant to the subsequent investigation. However, that’s why we believe the industry needs to do more to prepare their drivers for these situations.
‘Clear training, a documented response procedure and immediate access to specialist legal advice at the point of a collision will fundamentally give drivers the support they need when they are at their most vulnerable – ultimately safeguarding their mental health during those initial moments, throughout the investigation process, and while they wait for the situation to be resolved.’