irishcar.com

3 July 2002: He couldn’t exactly be called a heavy vehicle driver, but Juan Pablo Montoya, driver with the BMW Williams F1 Team, was in Dublin yesterday to launch the Allianz Ireland 'Risk & Safety Services' initiative, designed to provide advanced and defensive driver training to the drivers of commercial vehicles.

Montoya said it is vital for every person driving on today's roads to undergo a detailed and advanced driver training programme. “This is particularly necessary for people who drive often or do so as part of their job,” he said. “As a career driver myself, I can identify with anyone who drives for a living and know the pressures and stress long periods behind the wheel can impose.”

Brendan Murphy, Chief Executive, Allianz Ireland, said driver error accounts for over 80% of all accidents occurring on Irish roads each year and it has been proven time and time again that driver training saves.

“Our Allianz Risk & Safety Services initiative aims to improve the safety and driving standards of Irish commercial drivers,” he said. “It is imperative to bring into focus the levels of training of Irish drivers - particularly in comparison to some of our European neighbours where the much stricter driver testing and training requirements have had a direct bearing on the lower accident rates experienced in those countries."