Road Safety

Workplace road safety covers the rules, organization and equipment that protect employees who drive for work. For employers in France, it is not optional: road risk is an occupational risk. Like any other, it has to be assessed, prevented and managed, with clearly defined responsibilities.

Why is the road the deadliest risk at work?

Counting commuting accidents, road crashes account for more than 30% of fatal workplace accidents, according to INRS (in French), France's occupational health and safety institute. The national interministerial road safety observatory, ONISR (in French), describes road risk as the leading cause of work-related deaths.

ONISR's figures for 2023 confirm what is at stake. In 37% of injury crashes, at least one person involved was on a work-related journey. That same year, 1,132 people were killed in a work-related crash (ONISR).

Of these, 440 were traveling for work: 296 on a home-to-work commute and 144 on a business trip (ONISR). These figures only cover deaths where the purpose of the trip is known. The risk therefore concerns sales reps and technicians as much as professional drivers.

What is the difference between a work-trip accident and a commuting accident?

INRS distinguishes two situations. Driving during a work assignment is an act of work. Travel between home and the workplace falls under commuting risk.

The French Social Security Code (Code de la sécurité sociale) covers workplace accidents in Article L. 411-1 and commuting accidents in Article L. 411-2 (INRS). In both cases, the way the company is organized weighs on the risk: working hours, routes, the vehicles provided, and rules on phone calls.

What are the employer's obligations?

The table below sums up the legal texts every fleet manager should know, from the French Labor Code (Code du travail) and the Social Security Code. Each reference links to the official page we consulted, on INRS or Service Public (in French).

Obligation	Legal reference	What it means for the fleet
Ensure employees' safety	Labor Code, Art. L. 4121-1	Road risk is part of the employer's general safety obligation.
Assess driving-related risks	Labor Code, Art. L. 4121-3	Identify who drives, which vehicles, which journeys and which time constraints.
Record the assessment in the single risk assessment document (document unique, or DUER)	Labor Code, Art. R. 4121-1	Updated at least once a year in companies with 11 or more employees, and with every change that affects working conditions.
Keep every version of the document	Labor Code, Art. R. 4121-4	All versions are kept for 40 years from the date they were drawn up.
Penalty for having no DUER	Labor Code, Art. R. 4741-1	A fine of up to €1,500 for an individual and €7,500 for a legal entity.
Employee's safety obligation	Labor Code, Art. L. 4122-1	Drivers look after their own safety and that of others. A breach can be sanctioned.
Employer's inexcusable fault (faute inexcusable)	Social Security Code, Art. L. 452-1	Compensation is increased, and the social security fund can recover it from the employer.

For the assessment itself, rely on the single occupational risk assessment document (DUER). Another obligation: designating the driver after a traffic offense, known in France as ANTAI designation.

Which measures really reduce road risk?

The INRS prevention approach is built around four areas. They extend the three classic pillars: safe vehicles, safe drivers and a safe organization.

• Travel: cut unnecessary trips, plan ahead, limit driving times and respect breaks.
• Vehicles: choose a vehicle suited to the job, organize maintenance and check the safety equipment.
• Communications: ban phone use at the wheel, including hands-free. According to INRS, a phone call triples the risk of a crash, and texting multiplies it by 23.
• Skills: check each driver's license against the vehicle assigned, and plan additional training.

Speed remains a central issue. ONISR identifies it as the leading cause of fatal crashes, when it is excessive or unsuited to the conditions.

How do you manage road safety across a fleet?

A safety policy is judged over time, with a few simple indicators. Track claims per vehicle, traffic offenses per driver, and whether maintenance and roadworthiness test (contrôle technique) deadlines are met.

Monitoring driving behavior complements these indicators, within the framework set by the CNIL, France's data protection authority. For action on the ground, our article on driver safety offers concrete measures.

How Dadycar helps

Dadycar centralizes the data that feeds your road risk assessment. The claims and fines module keeps a record of every accident. The traffic offenses module centralizes ANTAI notices and post-parking charges (forfaits post-stationnement, FPS).

Inspections and condition reports track the condition of vehicles. Maintenance plans and due-date reminders keep anything from slipping through. Driver's licenses and insurance certificates are stored in the documents module.

With the Fleet + Telematics plan, vehicle alerts with configurable thresholds round out the setup. Donna, the AI agent, audits compliance, claims and fines based on the account's data. Everything runs within the fleet management software, hosted in France by OVHcloud.

Frequently asked questions

Is the home-to-work commute part of company road safety?

Yes. Commuting accidents are recognized by Article L. 411-2 of the Social Security Code (INRS). Employers can act on this risk through working hours, the organization of routes and rules on phone calls.

Does road risk have to be included in the single risk assessment document?

Yes. INRS points out that the results of the road risk assessment are recorded in the DUER. In companies with 11 or more employees, this document is updated at least once a year (Service Public).

Is a hands-free kit a safe option?

No. INRS recommends banning phone use at the wheel, including hands-free. Set a protocol instead: calls only when stopped, calls sent to voicemail, call windows during breaks.