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The importance of responsible driving

Blog post posted on 10/09/15 |
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Insight
Companies today face multiple challenges  and increasingly complex issues. Profitability, competitiveness, anticipating the needs of their customers, ensuring good working conditions for their employees and registering the company for environmental responsibility can all increase business pressure.
It is the same in fleet management, with a manager who has to deal with many issues, such as accidents and the loss of vehicles, both of which strongly impact the overall budget of the fleet. Did you know that up to 40 % of the total cost of a leased vehicle depends directly on the behaviour of the driver? For this reason, the promotion of responsible driving has now become a major issue and a focus on driver behaviour is now at the centre of fleet management strategy.

Embed ecodriving in your company policy

The terms "ecodriving" and "responsible driving" are often displayed in documents realting to best-practice. But what exactly are they? Responsible driving involves the ability of a driver to meet his/her employer's standards of conduct but also to ensure the safety of others. It's at the heart of education in road safety. Ecodriving, more broadly, is an intelligent driving style that is characterized by calmer driving, more gentle acceleration and lower revs. Originally motivated by the increase in fuel prices, companies are in the process of measuring the real effects of responsible driving behaviour on their fleet.

Today, many tools and fleet management solutions (e.g. telematics) feature modules to analyse driving behaviour. They provide information directly accessible from a smartphone or web interface on characteristics such as distance travelled, speed, downtime (engine running), harsh acceleration or deceleration or differences in average speed. A fleet manager now has at his/her disposal all indicators enabling them to analyse how the vehicles are being used, giving a clear indication of driving behaviour.

The benefits of responsible driving behaviour

In addition to more efficient vehicle use (reducing vehicle wear and tear, a lower frequency of maintenance and repair ), adopting responsible driving behaviour also encourages the driver to reduce accident-prone behaviour. And reduced or only moderate CO2 emissions are an opportunity for a company to communicate a green image and an image investing in sustainable development strategies.

 

Promote and encourage responsible driving

Driving behaviour is a very important issue in any fleet management policy. To educate drivers to adopt a more responsible driving style, in-vehicle driver training can be a most-effective way of achieving this. Different approaches are possible to encourage responsible behaviour, but it is important to analyse driving, detect risky behaviours and make eco-driving tips customised to each driver and vehicle type.

 


Engaging business in environmental responsibility

Responsible driving and the environment are closely linked. Beyond improving driver safety and reducing the loss of vehicles, responsible behaviour contributes actively to preserve the environment and encouraging the adoption of ecodriving techniques is key to achieving this. Our driving style is closely correlated to fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Every effort must be made to ensure people adopt more responsible behaviour behind the wheel, with a greener and more economical driving style. And key to all of this is ensuring these approaches are integrated fully into the corporate culture to promote responsible behaviour on the road.