So says Lightfoot, which is reporting dramatics results for a pilot currently being in Exeter to combine the two.
Carried out in association with Exeter City Futures, the pilot is providing 100 members of the public with driver behaviour devices and the chance to benchmark their results. The concept will be extended to offer prizes for the best-performing drivers.
In its first week of live operation, over 54% of drivers hit Lightfoot's Elite Driver efficiency target, while some motorists achieved up to 77.2mpg.
The amount of time drivers spent in the most inefficient ‘danger zone’, where drivers are most likely to put themselves and others at risk, fell from 6% to just 1.6%, representing a reduction of nearly three quarters.
Commenting on the initial findings, Mark Roberts, managing director of Lightfoot, said: “We’re really encouraged by the results so far. We knew that Lightfoot would make a difference, but the speed of change in driving styles has impressed us, and we’re not even at the point where participants are competing for prizes.
“Drivers have really got into the competitive spirit now that they can log on daily to see where they rank compared to colleagues and people in other leagues,” he added.
“Even though there’s nothing to win at this stage, participants in the pilot are really pushing hard to be as efficient as they can, and they’re actively tweeting about it.
“By the time the competition stage kicks in, when drivers will have the opportunity to win a host of prizes including the keys to an all-electric Nissan Leaf for seven days, a free karting experience at Raceworld Indoor Karting and a free supercar driving experience at a UK racetrack, we expect even more drivers will be achieving Elite Driver status.”
Lightfoot said it hopes that the study will help to show that ‘gamification’ and the opportunity to win prizes can make safe, efficient and measured driving fun and addictive – with major positive implications for the concept’s use in fleets.
Roberts added: “To date Lightfoot has achieved some impressive figures in the fleet sector, with average fuel saving figures of over 15% and reductions in accidents by as much as 50%. If we can show that introducing this kind of competitive angle leads to even greater efficiency levels, it has huge potential for commercial fleets where incentives could help to generate further savings in fuel, cuts in CO2, reductions in wear and tear and lowered accident rates.”
