Author: Abaranji Sivakumar

More than half (52 per cent) of the transport companies in Europe have had their offices inspected or audited for drivers’ hours compliance in the past 12 months.

A new study from TomTom Telematics also found that 43 per cent of the companies surveyed have been the subject of roadside inspections between one and five times in the last year.

A similar proportion (41 per cent) of transport companies say they’ve been forced cancel jobs that they wanted to assign to drivers due to not being able to check drivers’ remaining hours for the day.

Beverley Wise, sales director at TomTom Telematics in the UK and Ireland, said the research makes it clear that staying compliant with regulation over drivers’ hours can create admin hassles and disrupt productivity.

“[More than 60 per cent] of our respondents now use remote downloads to manage their tachograph data, which is unsurprising given how much simpler and less time-consuming that method is,” she commented.

“A significant minority, however, still rely on manual downloading to stay compliant, which means their large goods vehicles (over 3,500kg) need to be off the road when it’s time to capture the required data.

She added that of those that manually download, four in ten spend between 30 minutes and an hour per vehicle retrieving tachograph data every month.

The survey also touched on fuel usage, productivity and safety concerns.

Almost half (49 per cent) of transport companies now monitor mileage in order to tackle fuel wastage, while 38 per cent invest in driver training for this purpose.

When it comes to ensuring drivers are behaving safely on the roads, 42 per cent are now running training programmes, while a third monitor driver behaviour and 15 per cent invest in one-to-one management sessions.

Jez Strong, general manager for Tele-Gence, commented: “It’s no secret that telematics can be a fleet manager’s best friend, providing hugely useful insights into what their drivers are doing right and where they can improve.”

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Photo: chinaface/iStock

Research often proves women drivers to be safer and less accident prone than men, but a new study has shown that women are more likely than men to illegally use their mobile phone while driving.

Out of the 1,200 motorists surveyed by Select Car Leasing, 17 per cent of women admitted to checking their phone from behind the wheel in the past 12 months, compared to 11 per cent of men.

Additionally, a further seven per cent of women said they had sent at least one text whilst in control of a vehicle, compared to four per cent of men.

Of course, women could be being more honest than men but the fact that both sexes readily admitted to messing with their phone from behind the wheel was alarming, said Mark Tongue, company director of Select Car Leasing.

“Overall, our study showed that four in ten drivers admit to checking their phone at least ‘rarely’ while at lights or in traffic – and that’s a concerning stat,” he commented.

“Doing it just the once is enough to put you and other road users in danger. Road safety is everybody’s responsibility. All calls or texts can wait and checking them can be the difference between living and dying.”

Any drivers caught using their phone whilst in control of a vehicle stand to receive six penalty points, a £200 fine and even have their licence revoked for two years.

Age was an important factor in the survey, with drivers aged 18-24 far more likely to be distracted by their phone than motorists above the age of 45.

Overall, 29 per cent of 18-24-year-olds admitted to checking their phone whilst driving in the past 12 months, compared to 15 per cent of 45-54-year-olds and just six per cent of 55-64-year-olds.

Jez Strong, general manager for Tele-Gence, commented: “These findings are alarming yet depressingly unsurprising. Thankfully, fleet bosses can monitor their drivers’ behaviour using telematics.”

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The number of car accidents is expected to climb by more than a third as a result of the clocks going back.

According to insurethebox, accident rates among motorists driving between 5pm and 8pm in the weeks directly following the October clock change increase by 34 per cent.

Data collected by the insurance provider since 2014 shows that male drivers are likely to be involved in a collision after the clock change, with a 37 per cent increase in accidents during the home time rush. In regards to female drivers, this increase drops to 30 per cent.

Faster speeds make accidents more likely at any time of the day, but young drivers who speed at night between midnight and 7am are three times more likely to have an accident than those who speed during the day.

Every part of the UK sees a rise in accidents of at least 25 per cent in those three after-office hours, but drivers in Scotland and the north of England should be extra cautious.

These northern areas report the highest increase in accidents between the hours of 5pm and 8pm after the clock change. In Scotland particularly, accident rates spike by 50 per cent, and 49 per cent in Lancashire and Yorkshire.

A spokesperson for insurethebox said newly qualified drivers were especially at risk due to the lower visibility and wet weather.

“For many young drivers, the evenings after the clock change will be their first experience of driving in the dark, coping with different conditions like reduced visibility,” they said.

Jez Strong, general manager for Tele-Gence, commented: “All motorists can adapt their driving style to accommodate the darker, wetter conditions by travelling at a slower speed than normal and maintaining a greater distance from the car in front to benefit from increased reaction times if necessary.”

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UK car insurers are behind their European counterparts when it comes to appreciating the benefits of telematics, according to new research.

A study, conducted by YouGov for The Floow, quizzed 280 board directors and department heads from insurance companies based in the UK, USA and from mainland Europe – France, Italy and Sweden.

It found that more than nine in ten (95 per cent) insurance chiefs could see clear benefits of using telematics and the data science that powers it.

However, it went on to suggest that UK insurers aren’t quite up to speed with those on the continent in fully appreciating the impact that telematics can have beyond risk modelling and potentially reducing car insurance premiums.

The survey – reported by Fleet News – asked insurers how they thought telematics could help the motor insurance industry in the years ahead, and in the UK, decision makers seemed to have a clear, if narrow, sense on how telematics could help.

UK vs Europe

Compared to European decision makers, UK respondents were more likely to focus on improving risk modelling for high-risk drivers (UK: 44 per cent, Europe: 38 per cent) and reducing insurance premiums for drivers (40 to 34 per cent).

The research continued by adding that decision makers in mainland Europe were far more likely to identify a broader range of benefits that telematics could bring to the industry.

This included providing the data science that makes car/ride sharing a scalable reality (43 per cent to 20 per cent in the UK), improving the insurance industry’s understanding of mobility (38 per cent to the UK’s 20 per cent) and managing traffic congestion (34 per cent to 18 per cent).

Consequently, this meant that European insurance decision makers were more likely than their UK counterparts to see the difference that the adoption of telematics could make on improving road safety in general (47 per cent compared to 20 per cent).

‘Europe leaving no stone unturned’

David James, chief operating officer at The Floow, said the findings revealed differences in how insurers around the world quantify the value of telematics.

“Whilst those in mainland Europe are leaving no stone unturned, it appears that decision makers in the UK insurance industry are yet to look beyond the impact on insurance premiums,” he commented.

Jenny Smith, product manager for Tele-Gence, added: “Telematics improve road safety, lower insurance premiums and, when used properly by insurers, help retain customers and build brand loyalty.”