GreenRoad™, the leader in driver performance management, today announced the recipients of the first annual Fleet Elite™ awards, recognising the best drivers on the road. Fleet Elite status is awarded to GreenRoad drivers who maintain a GreenRoad Safety Score* of five or less for the full calendar year and log over 500 GreenRoad driving hours. For 2012, 5% of the global GreenRoad driver base attained Fleet Elite status.
1,143 UK GreenRoad drivers have achieved Fleet Elite status. Noteworthy mentions include the drivers at FirstGroup with over 600 Fleet Elite drivers, 10 of whom achieved a score of zero. Three of these zero drivers are based at the Westbourne Park depot. First has over 20,000 drivers using GreenRoad nationwide.
The team at Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions has also excelled and makes up 24% of all UK drivers with a safety score of 0 or 1. Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions has 151 Fleet Elite drivers across its fleet of 2800 drivers.
Relative to the size of their fleet, a high proportion of Fleet Elite drivers hail from the following GreenRoad customers: Alpine Travel, Big Bus, Bunzl, EYMS, Iron Mountain, Newflame, Norfolk Green, Safeguard Coaches, Simonds Coaches and KBC Logistics. These customers cite various reasons for their outstanding success but common themes include incentive programmes and a commitment from management, drivers and unions to changing behaviour.
Mark Munday, Business Improvement Director at FirstGroup UK claims that GreenRoad delivers superior results when used as a carrot rather than a stick. "Our depots are motivated by the idea of being the best professional drivers on the road and there is a high level of competition between drivers and depots. With GreenRoad, drivers and managers have the tools to inspire and encourage the team to continue eliminating risky manoeuvres. We believe the 'Fleet Elite' reward builds on this by providing even more incentive to drive safely."
Launched in February 2012, GreenRoad Fleet Elite is designed to motivate and reward the best driver performance. Each Fleet Elite driver will receive a certificate and lapel badge to mark their achievement.
"Fleet Elite is designed to provide recognition that goes beyond company borders," said Karen White, Senior Vice-President of Customer Solutions at GreenRoad. "Drivers from across the GreenRoad customer base are being recognised for superior performance and safe driving. And safe driving also means these drivers are maximising their fuel efficiency and demonstrating superior eco-driving."
*GreenRoad Safety Score
GreenRoad provides drivers with real-time, in-vehicle feedback every trip, every mile. At the start of every trip, a driver starts out "green". If a risky manoeuvre occurs, such as hard braking or rapid acceleration, the GreenRoad display flashes a yellow or red light, depending on the severity of the event. These risky events are tabulated to create a GreenRoad Safety Score.
A GreenRoad Safety Score is a rolling average of the last ten driving hours. GreenRoad considers a Safety Score of 20 or below safe or "Green" driving. Scores between 21 and 50 are moderately risky. Any driver with a score over 50 is considered a risky driver.
Safety events are broken into five major categories: braking, acceleration, corner handling, lane handling and speeding. Driver behaviour is measured using a sophisticated combination of a sensitive accelerometer, GPS data and advanced algorithms.
Fleet Elite Programme 2013
GreenRoad will run the Fleet Elite programme in 2013. Fleet Elite qualification will remain the same, drivers must maintain a Safety Score of five or less for the complete year, with a minimum of 500 GreenRoad hours logged.