Duty of care isn’t the argument driver training company Peak Performance uses to attract fleet managers.

At least, not these days.

“One of the things businesses like ours lost sight of a few years ago was talking about the training,” says managing director James Sutherland.

“We all got caught up in risk management and duty of care.

"It’s relevant and it’s important for managers to have policies and procedures in place but, ultimately, somebody gets in a vehicle and they have to have the motivation to drive in a certain way.”

Peak Performance, which was named Fleet Supplier of the Year at the 2008 Fleet News Awards, prides itself in getting drivers to actually enjoy being on the road and to be better, safer drivers.

“Our banner is ‘better driving’,” adds Richard Hill, director of sales. “We make people feel better about driving, and I think that’s where we differ. We’re not trying to beat people into submission.

“And by having better driving you’re reducing the risk of accidents. Almost by default you’re ticking the duty of care and corporate social responsibility boxes.”

Driving in mind

Peak Performance was established in 1989, but it wasn’t until four years ago that it carved out a niche by taking a psychological approach to training, teaming up with Cranfield University.

“Dr Lisa Dorn and her team at Cranfield wanted to take their research on the psychology of driving and the impact of negative driver behaviours and bring it to the commercial marketplace,” explains Richard.

“We formed an exclusive partnership with Cranfield and created Driver Metrics.”

The programme includes a psychometric test – the Fleet Driver Risk Index (FDRI). It was initially met with scepticism by some in the fleet industry, but now big players such as Lex, Masterlease and Alphabet use it.

“It’s a real differentiator.

"It enables us to stand out from the traditional method of assessing drivers, which is based on a combination of their general knowledge of driving and their ability to pick out hazards,” Richard says.

“With the FDRI there is no right or wrong answer. It’s a statement from the driver of how they feel about driving and how they react to certain situations. It’s truly innovative.”

James adds: “Psychometric assessments aren’t necessarily for everybody.

“But we feel that the way you think about driving, and the way you respond to situations on the road, is actually what makes you more likely to have a crash.”

The FDRI identifies which drivers are at greatest risk.

Drivers can then undertake coaching with Peak Performance, which is tailored to their specific personality type.

Satisfied customers

Peak Performance has a high customer retention record (about 96%).

Some clients, such as HSBC, have been with Peak for more than a decade.

In recent years it has attracted new clients such as the BBC and Royal & SunAlliance.

Richard puts this down to working closely with firms and really understanding their needs, rather than offering an ‘off-the-shelf solution’ that addresses some drivers but not others.

“Not all drivers are the same,” James adds.

“Some are driving cars, some are driving vans. Some are doing 20,000 miles a year, some are doing only 10,000. Some are just driving up and down motorways. It’s not a black and white thing.”

Part of the reason Peak Performance has developed long-term relationships is that it has a low turnover of staff.

For instance, training co-ordination team leader Alison Jones has been with the company for 15 years.
“We engage everybody with clients,” Richard says.

“Each client has a dedicated training co-ordinator as well as an account manager. If it’s a new client the project manager and the director of training will be involved too.”

The training co-ordination team looks after the day-to-day running of the training programme, saving fleet managers time.

The company invested a large sum in a new training booking system in 2007 to improve service delivery.

Money was also spent on internal and external training courses for staff, including stress management and image coaching.

Realistic goals

Richard points out that Peak sets realistic goals for clients.

“Some companies claim to reduce accident rates by 50% or even 70%, but that’s not a realistic expectation.

"And if you don’t deliver on that, then clients will go elsewhere. We say that you should expect to see a reduction of between 15% and 25%.”

In fact, one client, Océ, has cut accident rates by 30%.

Groupama Insurances conducted a study of the 952 fleets it had referred to Peak and found overall frequency of claims had fallen by 25% and the average cost per claim reduced by 23%.

And Peak scores well for driver satisfaction (90% of drivers felt their driving had improved after the session and 96% would recommend it).

So there are plenty of ‘better’ drivers in the fleet industry.