Safe Driving. The Payoff

We're hearing big claims about the growth of the global insurance telematics business in the consumer space - 89 million users by 2017 is one such claim. Pay how you drive based on continuous driver behavior monitoring and analysis certainly appears to be a growing trend and next year there is likely to be increased take up with EU gender discrimination laws set to take effect in December 2012.

The focus at Navman Wireless is, of course, on trends in the commercial fleet industry and how these affect our customers. Currently, pay how you drive schemes are largely focused on the high risk consumer demographics, but as this market evolves the availability of commercial vehicle variants are likely to become more widespread, giving conscientious commercial vehicle drivers the possibility of securing lower premiums and that can only be a good thing for an industry where margins are tight.

The good news today is that businesses employing vehicle tracking and telematics technology don't need to wait. They already have the tools to implement a safe driving culture designed to reduce accidents, improve their claims history and lower their insurance premiums. Right now businesses can identify and remove 'high risk' behaviours such as speeding, hard braking and aggressive acceleration and use the results over time to train fleet drivers, removing 'high risk' actions.

The much higher hopes are that Smart Telematics can make the UK's roads safer by incentivising better, more patient driving. In the specific case of tailgating and sudden braking, which are now the biggest causes of road rage (and one of the biggest causes of accidents) research suggests that a high proportion of aggressors are commercial van drivers. Smart Telematics can certainly help reverse this unwanted statistic and we are excited about the potential of Smart Telematics providing data, which, when analysed, could indentify braking signatures common to drivers who tailgate ??? driver behaviour forensics if you like.

Of course, 'high risk' behaviors also have financial cost implications in addition to road safety consequences. Consistent tailgating and harsh braking will reduce tire life & brake life by about 20%.?? Depending on the types of tires and brakes this can translate into very substantial costs. Maintenance studies have validated that aggressive and unsafe driving habits can add as much as 1.5p per mile in accelerated tire brake and engine wear. If a commercial driver operates 50,000 miles a year that could be as much as ??750 in additional maintenance costs ??? real financial gains of a safe driving culture.