Driver behaviour plays a significant role in fleet operating costs. To put it simply, the worse the drivers’ behaviour, the higher the operating costs. According to an AA report, focusing on the worst performing drivers and transforming them into average drivers can save a fleet as much as £360 per year per vehicle, with the anticipated biggest savings being in crash costs and fuel savings.
Use a driver behaviour monitoring system to help your drivers change their driving habits, drive more smoothly, make better driving decisions, reduce costs, and optimise fleet operation.
Driver Behaviour Influences Vehicle Cost Components
Three of the six main components comprising the cost of vehicle ownership are influenced by driver behaviour and driving style. According to the report, insurance, fuel, servicing, maintenance, and repair (SMR) account for 47% of the total costs of vehicle ownership. The remaining 53% of total costs are residual value depreciation, interest, and admin and management fees.
Improving driver behaviour should, therefore, result in constant or reduced insurance premiums, fuel consumption, and SMR costs.
Driving Style and Collisions
Before the introduction of driver behaviour monitoring systems and vehicle tracking systems with telematics, it was difficult to track vehicle driving dynamics and measure driving style to find the direct links between driver behaviour, operating costs, and collisions. This has changed, thanks to technology such as Crystal Ball’s solutions for monitoring driver behaviour.
After monitoring almost 2,200 vehicles in its fleet for two years, the AA found that the more maximum throttle events, the higher the number of claims made. When the driver population was ranked between good driving behaviour and poor, the higher the number of maximum throttle events during each 100km of driving can double the average claim count per driver over two years and increase the average claim cost from £384 to £1,074.
This shows that drivers who accelerate harshly and speed are likely to have more collisions as well as more and larger claims. By using a vehicle tracking system for driver behaviour management, you can coach the drivers who cost the fleet more money, support them in changing their habits, and reduce operating costs.
Driving Style and Other Vehicle Running Costs
Improved driver behaviour can lead to considerable savings in other areas.
Fuel: Bad driver behaviours such as excessive revving, harsh acceleration, and speeding lead to significant increases in fuel costs. The cost of fuel used by more than three excessive revving events is 166% higher than the cost of fuel used by only one excessive revving event per 100km, while the cost of fuel used in 150 maximum throttle events is 64% higher than that of the fuel used by less than 100 such events per 100km. Coaching drivers to improve their driving style in terms of revving, accelerating, and speeding can reduce your fleet’s fuel costs.
Tyres: The average tyre costs incurred by drivers who occasionally or never braked harshly was only £172 per year, while the average tyre costs for drivers who persistently braked harshly was approximately £283 per year, representing an increase of 73% or £111. The AA’s research also found that tyre costs were impacted negatively by harsh acceleration and deceleration. Use a driver behaviour management system to pinpoint harsh braking, acceleration, and deceleration incidents and to alert drivers to those behaviours to reducing costs and enhancing fleet operations.
Maintenance: The AA also found that the total maintenance costs increased by as much as 160% depending on the number of maximum throttle events over two years. This increase was found in all maintenance aspects, including routine service, general services, and brakes. Maximum throttle events accounted for more maintenance costs of £287 per year per vehicle.
Driver Coaching Makes a Difference
Human error is responsible for approximately 95% of all crashes, while driver distraction plays a role in as many as 19% of crashes. While some collisions and crashes are caused by drivers who have not yet mastered driving skills, others are caused by experienced and professional drivers making bad driving decisions. Those decisions are often based on the driver’s behaviour while driving as well as their attitude to driving. Bad driver behaviour means higher costs for your company, risk to company property, loss of reputation, and well as potential injury and/or death.
This is where driver coaching comes in.
Coaching drivers can make a quantifiable difference when it comes to behaviour, cost reduction, and fleet operation. According to the AA report, high-risk drivers’ number of harsh acceleration incidents per 100km before coaching was 13.6. After coaching, the number of incidents for the same drivers fell to 3.1. By comparison, the average number of harsh acceleration incidents for all drivers was 9.1.
Coaching also led to impressive reductions in high-risk drivers’ number of harsh deceleration per 100km, excessive revving incidents per 100km, and maximum throttle incidents per 100km.
As a fleet manager, you cannot accompany every driver on every journey to provide coaching, and a one-size-fits-all approach is not likely to be helpful. Effective coaching should be tailored to each driver and alert them to poor driving decisions. Crystal Ball’s driver behaviour management solutions can help you with this.
Driver Behaviour Monitoring Systems
CrystalBall’s FleetTracker fleet tracking system allows you to monitor driver behaviour. Use the analytics provided by the driver behaviour monitoring system to gain insights into driving habits and behaviours that need to be improved and plan the appropriate training.
You can take this a step further with Crystal Ball’s AI Powered Dash Cam. Facing into the cabin, the dash cam not only monitors driver behaviour and performance, it can also help to improve it.
The dash cam scores driver behaviour based on five KPIs, including acceleration, speeding, braking, cornering, and idling. In addition to calculating driver scores, the system generates reports and league tables that you can analyse easily.
Using AI and facial recognition technology, the dash cam also provides live coaching to drivers by detecting and alerting drivers audibly when it detects the following behaviours:
– Distracted driving (driver’s eyes looking left or right for too long)
– Eyes closing for a long time
– Falling asleep
– Head lowered (sleeping)
– Mobile phone use while driving
– No one at the wheel when the vehicle is in motion
– Smoking while driving
– Yawning
In addition to alerting the driver when it detects these behaviours, the dash cam will send a video of the incident to the fleet manager.
Tips for Improving Driver Behaviour
To really improve driver behaviour and optimise fleet operation, you need to adopt a comprehensive approach. Use the following tips to foster a good driving culture among your fleet drivers:
Institute a safety policy: Work with senior management, other employees, and your drivers to create a safety policy. The policy should include safety procedures as well as a statement outlining your company’s commitment to reducing collisions, crashes, injuries, and death on the road. Communicate the policy to all drivers and ensure they and management sign the policy, which should be reviewed periodically. You also should ensure that your drivers sign an agreement indicating that they understand procedures, expectations, and road rules and regulations.
Institute a no-distraction driving policy: Create a policy prohibiting your drivers from smoking, using mobile devices (making/receiving calls, responding to text messages, browsing the internet, watching videos, etc.), and engaging in other potentially distracting activities while driving. Communicate the policy to all drivers, making sure they understand it. Ensure management and all drivers sign the policy.
Use a driver behaviour monitoring system: Use a fleet tracking system with a driver behaviour monitoring system to collect data, provide insights, and provide live coaching to drivers on the road by alerting them to bad driving behaviours and distracted driving. Use the information to address serious or persistent issues with the relevant drivers and encourage them to perform better.
Motivate drivers with incentives: Use the league tables generated by Crystal Ball’s 4G Dash Cam to motivate drivers by offering incentives for improvements in driver behaviour and compliance.
Provide ongoing training for drivers: Provide your drivers with regular refresher courses on good driving practices such as safe braking distances and avoiding overtaking. vehicle inspections, and the rules of the road.
Maintain your fleet: In some cases, driver behaviour might be influenced by the state of the vehicle. For example, an issue with the brakes might require the driver to brake harshly to activate them properly. Ensure that your drivers inspect their vehicles before every journey and report any issues immediately so that you can maintain your fleet proactively.
Driver behaviour has a significant impact on fleet operating costs. By working to improve driver behaviour with the help of Crystal Ball’s driver behaviour management system, you should soon see reduced costs and optimised fleet operations.
Contact us to find out more today.