GreenRoad has today announced that more than 4,500 UK drivers achieved Fleet Elite status for 2013, demonstrating that they are amongst the safest drivers on the road.

Designed to motivate drivers and reward outstanding driving, the Fleet Elite 2013 programme saw a four-fold increase in the number of drivers compared to 2012 when there were 1,143 Fleet Elite drivers. This is partly due to GreenRoad’s expanding customer base but is also as a result of improved driving

Ninety-two UK drivers completed the year with a perfect score of zero, whilst 510 drivers had a score of one, indicating an average of 0.1 risky manoeuvres per 10 hours driving.

Fleet Elite status is awarded to GreenRoad drivers who maintain a GreenRoad Safety Score of five or less for the full calendar year of 2013 and log over 500 GreenRoad driving hours. On average, 5% of drivers achieve Fleet Elite.

“Over the last year we have noticed the strength of feeling about the Fleet Elite scheme, said Andy Cozens, director of sales at GreenRoad. “Drivers wear their Fleet Elite badges with pride.

“Each customer attributes its success to different factors but common themes include incentive programmes and a commitment from management, drivers and unions to changing behavior.”

Stellar Results from UK Customers

The fleet with the highest proportion of Fleet Elite drivers is Iron Mountain with 138 (nearly 40%) of its qualifying van and truck drivers in the UK and Ireland attaining this accolade. Five drivers scored a perfect zero. This demonstrates a substantial increase over 2012 when Iron Mountain had 56 Fleet Elite drivers.

It’s not just the large fleets that are reaping the benefits of safer driver and reduced fuel consumption. The bus and coach operator Alpine Travel has 18 Fleet Elite drivers out of a team of 49, representing 37% of its drivers.

How the GreenRoad Safety Score is calculated

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 combination of a sensitive accelerometer, GPS data and advanced algorithms.