Environment Southland Cracks Down on Staff Speeding

• Environment Southland recorded 856 speeding breaches by staff between April and June.
• Speeding data was analysed following requests by the risk and assurance committee.
• Significant decrease in higher speed violations seen after managers began receiving reports.

Environment Southland (ES) has been closely monitoring the driving behaviour of its staff, revealing over 850 instances of speeding in a three-month period. Between April and June, a report logged 856 breaches where staff exceeded speed limits by more than 10kmh. Among these, 28 instances involved drivers surpassing the limit by over 20kmh.

The council made the data public, following a request from the risk and assurance committee to analyse staff driving habits further. "As requested by the health and safety committee, over-speed reports have been distributed to the divisional managers for their team speeding 15kmh or more," the report noted. It also highlighted a "significant decrease" in medium and high-speed violations since managers began receiving these monthly updates.

ES vehicles are equipped with an in-vehicle monitoring system that includes an audible alarm, alerting drivers when they exceed the speed limit. Each time this happens, an "event" is recorded.

Paul le Roux, ES's health, safety, and risk manager, confirmed to Local Democracy Reporting that the highest speed recorded during the three-month period was 126kmh, which he explained occurred during an overtaking manoeuvre. Additionally, two drivers were found to have driven 2.6km at speeds 20kmh over the limit. "Where speeding is considered an issue, there is a conversation, in the first instance, with the driver regarding health and safety," Mr le Roux added.

During this period, staff covered almost 190,000km in council fleet vehicles, with speeding remaining a topic of focus across all levels of the organisation, according to the council report.