Name one improvement you’d like to make in your fleet’s performance this year. Is it reduced violations? Lower fuel costs? Fewer equipment replacements? Fewer accidents? Better delivery times? For most fleets, the answer is all of the above. The first place to start is to know how your drivers perform behind the wheel. This is where a driver scorecard comes in handy and may become your new favorite tool.
Even better, depending on your fleet management system, you likely have all the information you need right at your fingertips. Setting up a scorecard may be easier than you realize.
What is a Driver Scorecard?
A driver scorecard is a system of evaluating your drivers’ performances based on trackable driving metrics. Thanks to advancements in telematics through electronic logging devices (ELDs) and fleet management systems, these metrics are readily available to you.
Scorecards provide valuable information so that you know what your driver’s are doing, how they compare to each other, and whether they’re on track to reach specific goals. You can do multiple things with a driver scorecard:
- Track risky behavior on the road.
- Determine who needs more training.
- Identify your best drivers for incentives.
- Incentivize improvements in performance.
- Reduce costs.
Driver Metrics You Can Track
So what can you track with a driver scorecard? More than you might realize. Here are just a few metrics:
- Late starts
- Drive time
- Driving over the posted speed limit
- Driving more than the company’s maximum speed limit
- Excessive/harsh acceleration
- Excessive/harsh braking
- Harsh cornering
- Seat belt use
- Fuel consumption
- HOS violations
What you do with the metrics is up to you:
- Compare individual driver’s to the fleet average
- Compare individual driver’s to the fleet goals
- Focus on ROI and/or costs of driving behavior
How Metrics Helps Your Fleet
The information gathered through your telematics system, like Gorilla Fleet Intelligence, provides you with information to make improvements and see where unnecessary expenses are coming from. Using these metrics as a training tool to help driver’s improve and to reward good drivers helps you save on fuel costs, repair expenses, and violation fees.
When driver’s (and fleet managers) are more aware of certain behaviors, they can reduce or eliminate expensive habits and build cost-saving habits instead. The information also helps you replace drivers who refuse to perform to company standards. While turnover is a painful expense, it’s better than keeping a driver with unsafe driving behaviors that cause accidents, DOT violations, and additional repairs.
Using the information available in your fleet management system, like Gorilla Safety Fleet Xpress and Xtreme, allows you to set standards for your drivers, meet and beat targets, and improve performance across the board. Want access to this kind of data for your fleet? Sign up today and see how we can help.
