Technology is at forefront in bid to increase driver safety

In the week following Brake Road Safety week, fleet decision-makers came together to discuss their own safety initiatives at a Fleet News roundtable, sponsored by Trakm8.

Technology is playing a starring role, with a blend of telematics, video and software giving fleets access to huge amounts of data which is underpinning their risk management policies. Most are using the insight to measure driver behaviour and inform the training and support programmes.

Fleet News: What initiatives have you introduced to improve drivers’ skills?

Shaun Atton, Auto Windscreens (pictured): We use telematics as a coach-and-reward scheme, not as a stick. We look at all events and have camera footage which shows the reason for the incident – it could be someone breaking hard because a child has run out into the road, for example. The data drives our driver training but, even before someone goes out onto the road for the first time, they receive training.

Matt Hammond, M Group Services Plant: We don’t believe in rewarding drivers – it’s the standard they should achieve. We use telematics to understand driver behaviour and patterns. If they fall short, we will invest in them with training and support. If they continue to fall short, they don’t meet the standard to drive my fleet. First offence is a talk and training; second they can’t drive for the business for two months; third they can’t drive for 12 months. We also look at trends in driving patterns over the past three years to understand what it means and assign the right type of training.

We look at the types of incidents we are facing, the biggest cost and where we can make the biggest impact. We also do town halls to explain to drivers why we have telematics and the potential savings from insurance and accident reduction.

Andrew Jack, M Group Services Plant: We show drivers the footage where it’s worked in their favour so they can see how the cameras benefit them.