Using Telematics to understand individual driver risk

20 June 2019

Story from DriverMetrics.

A challenge with using telematics systems to reduce driver risk is that whilst telematics data offers a high level indication of which drivers at the highest risk of a crash, it cannot tell you what specific behavioural motivation is causing each telematics violation.

Dr Lisa Dorn, Research Director at DriverMetrics® explains, “For example, take a driver with telematics data that indicates excessive speeding. Research shows that there are many possible motives that may be causing different drivers to use excessive speed, including work-related stress, thrill seeking tendencies and frustrations behind the wheel. However, by simply intervening based on the raw telematics data without an understanding of these specific underlying motives, fleet managers will fail to address the core issue.”

So, we need a way to dig deeper and understand the underlying behavioural motivations behind these telematics violations.

By combining your telematics data with DriverMetrics® Profiling, you can secure a precise measure of the underlying behaviours causing the risks. DriverMetrics® Profiling is the most extensively validated measure of behavioural risk available.

Based on decades of scientific research, this online assessment accurately identifies the specific behavioural risk factors for each driver. The risk factors measured differ according to driver type (fleet, bus, truck etc.), but include core factors of aggression, thrill seeking, hazard monitoring and fatigue.

On completion, the driver a receives a detailed report that both facilitates self-reflection on their driving style and provides managers with an invaluable insight into the behavioural motivations underlying the high risk behaviours evident in the telematics data.

By combining your telematics data with DriverMetrics Profiling® you will have the full picture of your driver risks and can move onto making changes.