It’s referendum season, so we thought we would get in on the action by asking over 800 LGV drivers what they really thought of Driver CPC. As recently as two years ago the response might have been a little…well, negative; but opinions change and Driver CPC is no exception. A huge 74% of respondents felt that, in fact, Driver CPC had not had a negative impact on the industry. Admittedly, 24% of those asked did feel that training requirements like Driver CPC might force them out of the industry, but a third of drivers polled said that they felt Driver CPC had been a good thing. The overall tone of the response was very encouraging, but that 24% still needs a bit of work. We caught up with Laura Nelson, RTITB’s Managing Director to talk through the results and discuss driver training and development.
“I think it’s a real shame when I hear that many drivers are still unconvinced by Driver CPC,” said Laura. “For training to be effective it has to have a positive impact, and for that to happen, it’s got to be relevant and engaging. It’s interesting when you consider that the all of the drivers we contacted have been trained through RTITB Master Driver CPC Consortium members, because it shows that, on the whole, the message is getting through because of the excellent standards of our consortium members and training material that addresses the real issues that drivers want to know about. People are engaging with this process and finding out that professional development doesn’t have to be a chore.”
But what about the 24% of drivers who aren’t convinced? “It is a worry,” Laura admitted, “especially in light of the current driver shortage. But that shouldn’t deter us from our mission to drive up standards and improve professionalism. Driving a goods vehicle is highly skilled work that requires professionalism and excellent levels of industry knowledge. Whether you’re in the 24% who are yet to be convinced or the section of drivers who see real value in professional development, the opportunity is there to be grasped and the figures show that drivers are taking it up and taking pride in their industry.”
Driver CPC has come a long way since the days of the dreaded 2013/14 deadlines and it’s massively encouraging that professional drivers are seeing it as an advantage and not just something that has to be done. But RTITB’s mission is to keep driving the positivity forward through innovations and development – like our new approach to CPC that enables employers and training providers to choose and combine bite-size 35-minute topics into a 7-hour training syllabus that not only deals in issues that are relevant to the audience but also presents those topics in a range of delivery methods designed to get people out their own heads, off their chairs and involved in the session – sessions like: quizzes, practical demonstrations, discussion forums, video workshops and speed dating (yep, you read that right). And if after all that you still can’t find a course that fits, you can build your own with the RTITB Course Builder.
“We hope that we can continue to help more drivers see Driver CPC as a positive part of a very important industry,” said Laura. “Treating drivers as professionals and delivering Driver CPC courses that improve both skill and career development are key to changing the perceptions about our industry.”