Do your fleet customers need a new driving score?
Most telematics service providers use a “driving score” to determine risk level for their fleet customers. However, the way these scores are calculated can vary a great deal from provider to provider. This means that, currently, there is no large-scale standardization across the industry, making it difficult for fleets to use the score for effective risk mitigation. This is especially true if a fleet uses more than one provider.
In this blog post I consider what fleets need from a driving score and share what I think are the top three features of a good score.
How fleets use a driving score to manage risk
For fleet risk managers, having a score to see which drivers are most at risk of actually having a crash and what type of crash it might be is a powerful tool in their kit. But to be relevant and actionable, it’s important that the score provides the information the manager needs. For example, does it:
- Identify the drivers most likely to crash? This is not necessarily the driver with the most “events”.
- Provide the reasoning that backs up the score, so the manager knows what action to take and has context for those actions?
- Enable benchmarking (for example, against other drivers in the company, across industries and at country level)?
- Identify lowest risk drivers for recognition
With this type of information, fleet risk managers are better placed to understand risk across their whole fleet and at the driver level. Even better, they can see how risk trends over time and quickly identify drivers who require intervention.
How is the driving score calculated?
This matters almost as much as the score itself. That’s because it’s important for driver managers to understand the score in a way that gives them context for any action they take. This might be rewarding the best performing drivers or taking corrective action for the highest risk drivers. Drivers, too, will probably want to know how they are being measured. In particular, those flagged as high risk will want to know why.
Many telematics scores are based on “events” such as harsh braking and harsh acceleration. Or speed vs. speed limit. But, does this provide your customers with a reliable picture of the highest risk and lowest risk drivers? Not necessarily. In fact, it may be the case that high-risk drivers manage to “cruise along” just below risk thresholds, as I’ve discussed in a previous blog post.
Without a clear understanding of what constitutes a high risk or low risk score, your fleet customers could be failing to provide contextualized feedback to drivers on improvements that need to be made. And, more importantly, they could be targeting training at the wrong drivers, reducing its overall effectiveness.
What are the elements of a good driving score?
Different fleet managers have different requirements, so while one might consider a particular driving score “good”, another might view it as unhelpful to their needs. However, here are the top three factors that I feel are important in a driving score.
1. Consistent and agnostic of location and vehicle type
Is the driving score consistent, regardless of location and vehicle type? This is core to any safety and liability reduction effort. I’m aware that some companies – or country divisions of global companies – like to set their own thresholds as to what constitutes “high risk”. The danger with allowing this type of variation to thresholds is that it can demonstrate a willingness by the customer to overlook risk.
It also makes it difficult for the people responsible for managing risk at a global level to make comparisons between countries, since the data cannot be compared. A consistent driving score that is agnostic of location and vehicle type provides much greater potential for reporting and acting on data insights. Consistent scoring also allow fleet operators and their insurance partners to more accurately benchmark performance.
2. Predictive
Successful risk management does not evaluate crashes that have happened. It prevents them from happening in the first place. For a driving score to be truly predictive it needs to measure – in real time – how a driver’s actions correspond with their likelihood of being involved in a crash. And it needs to provide reasons why in good time, so that appropriate action can be taken before the predicted crash happens.
3. Relevant
Fleet managers need insights that matter to them and their operations. And, with increasing attention being paid to how companies manage and report on social and environmental factors, fleet managers require more data that enables them to measure driver safety and carbon footprint. Therefore, to be relevant to the current challenges fleets are facing, a good driving score will include both safety and sustainability data that allows them to measure, act, and report on their activities.
In summary, while there are many ways that driving scores are calculated, as a telematics supplier, it’s important to be mindful of your customers’ needs and whether your driving score supports their risk management efforts. Don’t forget that the challenges facing your customers are constantly evolving, and it’s important that your driving score doesn’t get left behind.
