Driving for Work: Mythbusters
52 common misconceptions – and the facts employers and drivers need to know
Myth 43: Running late is just part of the job
Accepting lateness as inevitable creates pressure on drivers to speed, skip rest breaks, or take risks to make up time. Speeding to compensate for lost time is one of the most common and least rational driver behaviours.
The time saved by driving at 80mph instead of 70mph over a 50-mile motorway journey is less than six minutes – a saving that comes at the cost of significantly increased stopping distances, higher collision severity, and potential prosecution.
Time pressure is a significant contributing factor in work-related road collisions. Employers must examine the root causes of chronic lateness such as unrealistic scheduling, excessive workloads, poor route planning, and address them systemically.
Drivers should never feel that speed or risk-taking is an acceptable response to running behind schedule. Organisations that build realistic journey times into work planning and remove the implicit pressure to rush send a clear message that safety matters more than punctuality.
Driver takeaway:
Speeding to make up lost time is one of the least rational decisions a driver can make.
The time saved over a 50-mile motorway run at 80mph versus 70mph is under six minutes. It is never worth the risk. If you are running late, communicate, don’t accelerate.
Manager takeaway:
Examine the root causes of chronic driver lateness: unrealistic scheduling, excessive stop numbers, inadequate journey time, poor route planning.
If drivers are routinely late, the problem is almost always systemic. Drivers should never feel that speeding is the expected response to a tight schedule.
