Driving Value with Improved Driver Behaviour

Driver behaviour is probably the biggest contributor to your fleet’s variable costs.

It affects how much your business spends on fuel, with aggressive acceleration and unnecessary idling emptying tanks – and draining related budgets – faster. It affects the number of accidents your vehicles are involved in. And, as a direct result, it also affects your insurance premiums.

Smart Global Fleet Management can help you positively influence driver behaviour and, in turn, minimise your outlay in every one of these areas – while keeping your people, and other road users, safer.

Manual risk assessments and in-vehicle telematics can offer invaluable insight into driving styles and behaviours, helping to pinpoint those currently pushing up your fleet’s variable costs.

Knowing where you’re wasting money is great. Knowing why is even better.

You should look to identify the root causes of wasteful driving behaviours and target your training and preventative measures accordingly.

For example, is driver tiredness a regular cause of damage to your vehicles? Or a simple lack of parking skills?

Your next step is to figure out which root causes to address first. You may want to prioritise ‘easy wins’, or go straight for the issues causing the greatest risk and cost within your business. Every company is different, and so is the right path forward.

Responding in the smartest possible way could mean a new programme of online, in-person or behind the wheel training. It could mean new driver incentives. Or it could mean all of the above.

You should tailor your programme based on the nature of your fleet, your company culture and the seriousness of the issues, remembering to report on participation and progress.

In Europe, fuel costs average €2,000 a year, while road accidents cost an average of €700 per incident. Put simply, the financial value of addressing risky and costly driver behaviours can quickly add up.

One company introduced a pilot programme to identify and retrain its at-risk drivers in Spain and Italy, and saved €57,400 in the first year, while cutting accidents by a third.

Improving driver behaviour is just one way Global Fleet Management can deliver value for your business. We’ve already explored a number of others on this blog – take a look back at our previous posts – and there are still more to come.

Posted by Guest Author Reinier Willems in Cost Management, Driver Management, Global Fleet Policy, Insight.