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

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:

Episoder(269)

Frontline Leadership: The Real Driver of Safety, With Kevin Burns

Frontline Leadership: The Real Driver of Safety, With Kevin Burns

What if the biggest lever for improving safety isn't your systems, processes, or even your safety team but your supervisors? That's exactly where this conversation goes. Speaking with Kevin Burns rea...

1 Mai 51min

Why Your Safety System Might Be Making Things Worse, with Sidney Dekker

Why Your Safety System Might Be Making Things Worse, with Sidney Dekker

When safety systems become bloated, disconnected and more focused on paperwork than people, they can quietly create the very risks they were meant to prevent. That is exactly what I explored in this s...

24 Apr 42min

Data-Driven Safety: How Leading Organisations Stay Ahead of Risk, With David Picton

Data-Driven Safety: How Leading Organisations Stay Ahead of Risk, With David Picton

Most organisations think they're doing enough on safety until they realise they're only seeing half the picture. I sat down with David Picton, SVP, Safety & Sustainability at EcoOnline, to explore wha...

17 Apr 52min

Make 2026 the Safest Year Yet

Make 2026 the Safest Year Yet

There's a hard truth many of us don't like to admit we're incredibly busy in safety, yet not always as effective as we could be. This conversation is the panel session from an online event I co-hosted...

10 Apr 33min

Why Safety Systems Fail to Change Behaviour, With Eduardo Blanco-Muñoz

Why Safety Systems Fail to Change Behaviour, With Eduardo Blanco-Muñoz

There's a question that sits right at the heart of safety performance, and it's one that frustrates a lot of us. Why do well-designed, technically sound safety systems still fail to change behaviour i...

3 Apr 45min

Why Is Workplace Noise Still Poorly Managed?

Why Is Workplace Noise Still Poorly Managed?

Workplace noise is one of those risks that quietly chips away at people over time, often unnoticed until it's too late. Yet despite nearly two decades of regulation, it's still being misunderstood, un...

27 Mar 47min

Ensuring Trust in the Age of Data and AI, With James Robson

Ensuring Trust in the Age of Data and AI, With James Robson

Trust with data is becoming one of the defining challenges for modern leadership. We hand over personal information every day, often without a second thought, yet expectations around how that data is ...

20 Mar 20min

Looking into the AI Safety and Risk Management Mirror, With CJ Clarke-Joell

Looking into the AI Safety and Risk Management Mirror, With CJ Clarke-Joell

Artificial intelligence is moving faster than most leaders can comfortably process, and that is exactly why this conversation matters. Speaking with CJ Clarke-Joell at Risk Europe opened up a much dee...

13 Mar 20min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
rss-pa-konto
pengesnakk
pengepodden-2
utbytte
finansredaksjonen
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
liberal-halvtime
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
rss-sunn-okonomi
rss-skravla-gar
rss-markedspuls-2
lederpodden