The future of the fleet

Managing a fleet in 2014 is about more than leasing costs and fuel economy. Drivers are facing increased traffic, risk of fatality and amplified stress levels. Is life on the road taking its toll?

Recreational driving is one of life’s great pleasures - wide, undulating roads, the gentle thrum of the engine, a playlist of favourites and leisurely stops in scenic spots for lunch or just to take in the view. It’s a pity the same can’t be said for workday driving, where scheduled appointments, traffic and overpriced parking are constant reminders that there’s a job to be done and not enough time to do it.

Drive me crazy

There is no doubt that driving can be a stressful business. In fact, a 2013 study carried out by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in collaboration with car manufacturer Audi, discovered that driving is on a par with skydiving when it comes to stress levels. The study measured vital signs, skin conductance and facial movements across a range of activities, including attending an MIT economics lecture and eating breakfast. The results for both driving and jumping out of a plane were remarkably similar and far outweighed the stress levels experienced during the more mundane tasks.

It’s easy enough to understand why. We can only assume the term ‘peak hour’ stems from a time when traffic increased for just that - one hour. Not so today. Major metropolitan roads and motorways are bumper to bumper well before 7 am and again long after dark. An increased propensity for parents to ferry the kids to and from school has created a second mini-peak hour, while the introduction of reduced speed school zones further exacerbates the problem, making moving on our roads even slower and for longer periods each day.

When your job requires you to be on the road all day, there’s no getting away from it. You can’t just wait till peak hour is over or till the school traffic quietens down. While fleet managers can implement technology improvements to ensure the field team uses the quickest route and are only scheduled for jobs close to a current location, the fact remains that sitting in traffic is often unavoidable and undeniably stressful. For some drivers, an added layer of perceived complexity can even contribute to further anxiety.

Highway to the danger zone

If the stress doesn’t get you, statistics suggest an accident likely will. The Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety - Queensland (CARRS-Q) published a paper on work-related road safety which incorporates some frightening numbers as provided by government and industry groups including Safe Work Australia and the Australian Transport Council. For example: work-related crashes make up 15% of the Australian national road toll. That’s a pretty big number, particularly when you consider that most fatality reports on the evening news involve inexperienced young drivers coming home from a night out with friends - we simply don’t hear about the service technician who didn’t make it to his next appointment. Even more alarming: road fatalities equate to a staggering 33% of total Australian occupational deaths. Even with non-fatal outcomes, CARRS-Q reports that work-related crashes incur a greater average time lost in worker absence than any other type of worker claim.

Apart from the ongoing health risks associated with high stress levels, increased pressure on the roads can lead drivers to make poor decisions and tends to encourage erratic behaviour. Unfortunately, no amount of technology improvement can completely compensate for the bad driving that others often display and the subsequent actions we are forced to take on the roads. The human element of driving is still the most unpredictable and unmanageable facet and some personality types are simply more prone to making potentially questionable driving choices and engaging in risk-taking behaviour.

No-one in the driver’s seat

This is probably what Google was thinking when it unveiled the self-driving car earlier this year. Hailed as an avenue to less stressful driving, better fuel economy and fewer traffic incidents, the driverless car is not as implausible as it would initially seem when you consider the technology involved. Many of the standard inclusions in today’s cars, such as cruise control and crash-avoidance features, are already facilitating less human interaction in the driving process.

What will be interesting to watch unfold are the changes to infrastructure that will follow implementation of such technology. According to an article published on the UK-based Telegraph online, traffic lights could become redundant, as cars will have the ability to communicate with one another to facilitate smooth and efficient traffic operations. It all sounds very ‘Jetsons’ and certainly conjures up images of zooming sky-cars as predicted in such animated cartoons of the 1960s, but it is obviously still a way off broad-scale adoption.

Here and now

Until such time as we can summon a car to transport us safely to our destination without delay, we’ll have to make do with the status quo: traffic snarls, longer peak hours and other drivers. For those managing mobile teams, development of a thorough work-related road safety program will help to define potential risks and identify where there is room for improvement.

While the internet is awash with ‘are you an aggressive driver?’ quizzes, as well as tips and tricks for maintaining a Zen-like composure from countless road safety organisations, it is worthwhile considering a program of driver training for your team.

Most programs offered today include instruction on driving tactics to reduce vehicle running costs and to identify signs of driver fatigue. Many incorporate some form of risk identification and defensive driving education as well. Participants are encouraged to actively engage in practices that promote safety for themselves, as well as other drivers.

While there are obviously commercial benefits to better driving, the safety and wellbeing of your mobile workforce should be a key concern. Given the frightening statistics around work-related road incidents, encouraging better driving just makes sense.

Image credit: ©chungking/Dollar Photo Club