Why Most Road Collisions Are Avoidable: Older Drivers, Eyesight, and Smarter Safety Systems, With Rob Heard

Most serious road collisions don't happen because of bad luck. They happen because of decisions, assumptions, and systems that quietly fail us over time. After decades at the sharp end of road safety, Rob Heard has seen exactly how those failures play out and why so many of them never needed to happen in the first place. This conversation goes far beyond driving. It's about risk perception, dignity, behaviour change, and what safety leaders in any industry can learn from the roads we all share every day.

Rob brings rare insight from hundreds of fatal collisions, national policy work, and years of campaigning that has helped shift the conversation from punishment to prevention. From eyesight and ageing to safer systems and learning cultures, this is a grounded, practical discussion about how better decisions genuinely save lives.

Highlights

Most fatal collisions are preventable: Around 95 percent linked to known, repeatable risk factors
Older drivers and the real data: Risk rises with age, but dignity and independence still matter
Eyesight as a critical safety control: Vision underpins 90 percent of driving decisions
Why self-certification fails: Defective vision and medical conditions often go unreported
From blame to learning: Education and assessment outperform punishment in risk reduction
MOT yourself, not just the car: Fitness, cognition, eyesight, and habits all matter
Safer systems thinking: Roads, vehicles, people, speeds, and post-collision learning

Resources and actions:

Sign up for a future Safety Roundtable: https://safetyroundtable.co.uk/
Connect with Rob on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-heard/
Connect with Christian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-harris-slip-safety/

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(281)

The Hidden Cost of Heat, with Anna Albright

In this episode, Christian Harris speaks with Anna Albright, founder of Klima, about the true cost of heat on worker safety and productivity. Anna shares the story of a delayed flight that revealed gr...

24 Heinä 0s

Safety Roundtable: The Safety Confidence Gap

In this Safety Roundtable session, Christian Harris explores what he calls the safety confidence gap. Early data from our State of Safety Survey shows 94% of respondents rate their safety performance ...

17 Heinä 40min

Brad Johnson: Why Compliance Isn't the Same as Safety

Would your workplace still be safe if every regulation vanished overnight? That question sits at the heart of this conversation between Christian Harris and Brad Johnson, safety coordinator and author...

10 Heinä 48min

Qualifications vs. Competence: Is Health & Safety Really a Profession? (with Dr. David Thomas)

Are more letters after your name actually making you a better safety professional, or just better at collecting certificates? In this episode of the Safety Roundtable, Christian Harris is joined by Dr...

3 Heinä 1h 2min

Why Witness Memory Can Mislead Investigations | The Psychology Every Investigator Should Know

Most incident investigations depend heavily on witness accounts, but what if human memory is far less reliable than we assume? In this episode, Christian Harris is joined by Elizabeth Hyde and Dr Sama...

26 Kesä 50min

Engaging the Sceptics: The Missing Piece in Mental Health & Wellbeing, With Nick Elston

Mental health and wellbeing is something every Organisation talks about, yet many of the people who need support the most never ask for it. Why? That question sits at the heart of my conversatio...

19 Kesä 51min

Using Risk to Drive Better Business Decisions, With Graeme Fleming

Risk management is often viewed as something that keeps Organisations out of trouble. But what if it could do far more than that? My guest, Graeme Fleming, argues that risk is one of the most powerfu...

12 Kesä 42min

A Decade of Consequences: How Sentencing Guidelines Changed H&S Forever, With Chris Green

Before you think "it won't happen here", consider this: a company was fined £10,000 for a serious machinery incident in early 2016. Just weeks later, a similar case resulted in a £1.6 million fine. ...

5 Kesä 57min