The Financial Advantage of Driver Safety

Driver Safety is a key concern across multiple sectors, it has been reported that most traffic accidents are caused by human-error. These errors can cost both money and lives.

Fleet safety increases profitability in many aspects of the business. Unsafe driving behaviours include speeding, harsh acceleration and harsh breaking. These behaviours not only cause vehicles to use more fuel, but also cause wear and tear to the vehicle to occur faster than normal. This means that tires need replacing and other services, such as engine maintenance, must be performed more frequently. These services can eat into a business’ profits if they do not have the ability to service their fleet internally.

Swanson Transport, for example, used the data from its telematics to demonstrate its safety management practices to ACC achieving Gold Fleet Saver status. Being certified through the Fleet Saver programme is a way for businesses to lower their ACC motor vehicle levies through proving strong safety management practices.

A common unsafe driver behaviour is speeding. When your drivers speed, they’re at risk of incurring speeding tickets which can add up to a significant amount of wasted money. Staying below the speed limit saves a company from these unneeded costs and leads to lower insurance, leaving money to be invested elsewhere. A few decades ago this was hard to monitor but now we have a driver safety solution.

Teletrac Navman’s DIRECTOR is essentially driver safety software, providing insights for fleet managers to proactively and reactively manage driver behaviour. By replaying the unsafe events to drivers, they can learn how to improve. In many instances, the drivers are not aware of the impact of their actions on the bottom line. 

Mangonui Haulage Operations Manager, Sean Sparksman says, "Our drivers were good on the roads before, but Teletrac Navman gave us more ways to improve - eliminating speeding, reducing idling, and ensuring driver rest - allowing us to make an already good group of guys even better." Transport Manager Darren Brott shares Teletrac Navman speed reports with drivers at their monthly meetings. 

Safer drivers on the road result in a better reputation for your business. In this social media age, never underestimate word-of-mouth. When your company’s name is on the side of the vehicle, it means that other drivers on the road can tell their friends and family about how an “XYZ Company truck almost rear-ended them on State Highway 1”, not just in person but on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Remember the internet is forever, and people are more likely to talk about negative experiences than positive ones.

Teletrac Navman’s 2018 Telematics Benchmark Report, taken from a survey of Kiwi transport professionals, found that one in five respondents (21%) consider improving driver safety as a top business goal, improving vehicle safety is also noted by one in ten (10%). But these goals are vying for position against the financially-lead goals of reducing operational cost (43%), expanding customer base (34%) and increasing profits (32%). These goals can go hand in hand – as great driver safety reduces additional costs whilst improving the reputation of the business.

Want to learn more? We host a series of informative videos on building a safety culture for your company, which you can find here.