There were a lot of very interesting sessions at the recent American Trucking Association’s Management Conference & Exhibition. One that caught my eye presented data from a study by the Traffic Injury Research Foundation. The study looked at the relationship between driving in a fuel-efficient manner and reducing the risk of crashes.
During the session, The Connection Between Eco-Driving and Safety, Ward Vanlaar, COO of the foundation, and Sam Sussenguth, chief sales officer of Isaac Instruments, shared study findings.
I was not totally surprised by what the study found. After all, driving with fuel economy in mind often includes being careful not to engage in jackrabbit starts, avoiding hard braking, watching vehicle speed, paying close attention to the other vehicles on the road, and anticipating what other drivers will do.
All those things also contribute to safer driving. The study found that a more fuel-efficient driving style was tied to reductions in the chance of near-hit events and collisions.
Data for the study came from 2,521 drivers in trucks equipped with telematics devices that were then analyzed.
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In his remarks, Sussenguth reinforced that, despite all the new technology on trucks, drivers still have an impact on fuel economy of about 30%. Does that also mean they have a 30% impact on safety? Neither presenter made that connection, but it makes sense to me.
The presentation got me thinking about driver training. I wonder if there is a benefit to making the connection between driving with fuel economy in mind and improved safety? Do drivers know about the relationship between fuel economy and safety? If they don’t, would learning about it influence the way they drive?
Maybe we all need to start looking at our own telematics data to see if the connection between fuel economy and safety exists for us. A good place to start is with drivers who have driven for long miles with zero accidents. Analyze their performance on things like hard cornering, hard braking, and hard accelerations.
If the data confirms the correlation, add tips for driving with fuel economy in mind to your safety training or focus on safety when explaining why driving with fuel efficiency in mind is important.
