2015 Fleet Driver of the Year event reinforces impact of driver behaviour on fuel economy

Now in its third year, FDOTY is organised by ALD Automotive in association with Fleet World and event partners AA DriveTech and Toyota & Lexus Fleet Services, and puts fleet drivers’ skills to the ultimate test to find the UK’s best company car driver and promote smarter, safer driving. 

This year’s entrants have already taken part in a three-month evaluation process, with the top 10 drivers now ready to take part in a set of highly skilled driving challenges at this year’s Fleet World Fleet Show at Silverstone on 12th May.

Whilst this year’s winner is yet to be crowned, the event already highlights to fleet operators how telematics technology, such as ALD Automotive’s award-winning ProFleet2 solution, can significantly reduce fuel costs by helping to identify poor driver behaviour.

With over 40,000 units installed to date and integrated seamlessly within ALD Automotive’s standard contract hire offering, the ProFleet2 service is unique within the marketplace. Originally developed to provide accurate odometer readings for ALD to remind drivers to service their vehicles on time, and improve the service booking process, ProFleet2 has since evolved into a proven and all-encompassing fleet management solution delivered through the www.profleet2.com portal.

This year’s FDOTY has, once more, seen ProFleet2 play a crucial role in the event, with the technology used to record every aspect of the competitors’ performances over the four-week monitoring period, including heavy braking, rapid acceleration, speed events and idling – all of which significantly impact on fuel consumption.

By using ProFleet2 data to compare figures from the top five and the bottom five drivers from the 25 drivers that qualified to the penultimate phase, the information once again proves how important a role a driver plays in controlling fuel efficiency and fuel budgets.

With drivers giving their consent for their driving behaviour to be analysed, harsh acceleration, for instance, was only recorded on four occasions among the ‘top five’ drivers. This compares with a combined total of 88 occasions among the ‘bottom five’. Similarly, the number of ‘hard braking’ events saw just six recorded events among the ‘top five’ compared with 320 from the ‘bottom five’.

With speed data another key indicator, the data showed that the number of ‘speed events’ varied significantly, with no events recorded for the ‘top five’ compared with 53 from the ‘bottom five’ over the 28-day monitoring period.

But it wasn’t just when the drivers were moving that highlighted the effect on fuel consumption. Unnecessary idling among the participants in the 2015 FDOTY competition was also monitored – another main cause of fuel wastage as well as harmful emissions.

The key message for fleet operators from the event is that companies can improve fuel bills – as well as their carbon footprint and road risk management – by using fleet management technology such as telematics to review driver behaviour and then targeting the drivers most in need of eco-driver coaching.

Rhys Harrhy, telematics product manager at ALD Automotive, explains: “Many fleet managers believe that fuel costs cannot effectively be managed by fleets, yet this year’s Fleet Driver of the Year event once again shows that this couldn’t be further from the truth. Whilst there is nothing fleets can to do change pump prices, there is a huge amount they can do to reduce their fuel costs– the second largest area of fleet spend after depreciation.

“The phrase ‘you can’t manage what you don’t measure’ is often quoted in the fleet industry and this message is underscored by FDOTY. Only by using telematics to gain total visibility of your fleet can fleet operators identify risky and costly behavioural patterns amongst drivers and focus on training the individuals who need it most. For companies looking to manage the safety of their drivers and control their fleet bills, telematics could provide the lifeline they need.”

In addition to hosting the final of the 2015 Fleet Driver of the Year competition, ALD experts will be on hand in Hall 3 stand C21 to discuss the latest enhancements to the company’s DriveSafe suite of integrated risk management products, demonstrate how telemetry can dovetail with fuel card data to reduce the cost of business mileage and to talk about developments in future mobility solutions.

ProFleet2 data from the 2015 Fleet Driver of the Year event shows the number and type of events recorded by the Top five and Bottom five drivers: