Are your fleet drivers risky business?
Mar
Risk management can help minimize dangerous driving
The majority of fleet drivers are well-trained, well-behaved professionals who are a valuable asset to your business. When you consider that they have to contend with the poor driving of other road users day after day, week after week, you have to admire and respect their tireless efforts and angelic patience to perform their job in a responsible manner.
But not all fleet drivers are good at keeping their cool. Aggressive or distracted driving is one of the biggest risks faced by fleet owners and, even if perpetrated by only a small minority of drivers, needs to be managed effectively.
The video below is just one example that highlights the consequences of poor driver behavior. It makes you feel sorry for the poor passengers!
Why worry about risk management?
Risk management is a hot topic and it’s simply because dangerous driving can create all sorts of headaches for fleet owners. Here’s a few to get you thinking:
- Damage to the company’s public reputation
- Property damage and expense (both to the company and the public)
- Driver’s safety including potential injury or death
- Excessive fuel usage
- Increased insurance premiums
- Unauthorized or illegal company vehicle use
- Non-delivery or damage to transported goods
While, in most cases, drivers are held responsible for their actions, it is costly for the company as well and that means it’s in your best interests to do what you can do to minimize the potential for poor driver behavior.
Minimizing bad driver behavior
We’re all familiar with the ‘carrot and stick’ approach to modifying behavior. While some bosses are more ‘stick’ than ‘carrot’, it’s generally accepted that a combination of the two works best – offer carrots where possible, use the stick only when needed.
But the only way you can effectively manage this is if you can measure and monitor your fleet drivers. This in itself can be a challenging task simply because drivers work alone most of the time, unlike a normal office where you have regular oversight of your employees and managing behavior is much easier.
This is where GPS fleet tracking has helped managers monitor drivers more accurately and setup systems for rewarding good behavior and modifying unwanted traits. Sometimes referred to as the ‘boss in a box’ or ‘boss onboard’ these hardware devices can be hardwired into fleet vehicles and can monitor anything from a door opening to the engine being switched on or off. When connected with fleet management software like Telogis Fleet, it can be used to generate driver reports and alert you immediately when dangerous or potentially risky driving is taking place.
Alerts can be sent directly to a mobile device that can receive emails, notifying you of any type of behavior you want to monitor such as hard braking, speeding, driving outside of designated areas or times or excessive idling.
On a positive note, you can use these reports to setup a reward system for good drivers who drive efficiently, safely and responsibly – effectively saving you money and helping you sleep easier at night!
Good risk management should also include driver training, which can work well where there is willingness by drivers to genuinely improve their skills, but only an on-board monitoring solution, coupled with fleet management software, can help you enforce company policy and minimize the risk of bad driving.
