Eco-Driving Techniques Can Reduce Crashes
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Researchers are finding that carriers whose drivers use fuel-efficient driving techniques can not only reduce emissions and fuel consumption, but also reduce crashes.
While the idea of fuel-efficient driving dates to 1999 in Europe, a 2023 study by the Canada-based Traffic Injury Research Foundation quantified the benefits of the driving style in reducing crash risk, leading to savings in the operational costs for transportation companies, said Ward Vanlaar, the foundation’s chief operating officer.
Vanlaar and Sam Sussenguth, chief sales officer of Isaac Instruments, spoke at an Oct. 13 session, “The Connection Between Eco-Driving and Safety,” at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition.
Fuel-efficient driving techniques include accelerating gently, maintaining a steady speed, anticipating traffic, avoiding high speeds, coasting to decelerate, avoiding hard braking and using cruise control.
Sussenguth
The TIRF study collected data between 2020 and 2022 from Class 8 commercial drivers from three commercial carriers in Canada using Isaac and other telematics providers assisting in getting the data to TIRF — and validating anything that was required.
In all, the study collected data from 2,521 drivers, 18,024 driving segments, and three commercial companies in Canada using the Isaac platform. It documented a 7% reduction in the odds of a hard-braking event, an 8% reduction in the odds of hard left and right turn events and a 4% reduction in the odds of having a collision.
There also was a 1% increase in the use of cruise control, the study said.
“An increase in the driver’s age is associated with a 9% reduction in the odds of a hard-braking event,” the study said.
“In the very beginning, I think the link with fuel saving was more obvious,” Vanlaar said. “But then people were hypothesizing that if you drive more eco-friendly, which means smoother driving and more time to anticipate if something is going to happen so you can better avoid it, there must be a link with safety as well.”
Vanlaar said that younger drivers are not generally “smooth” drivers but instead use harder accelerations, harder braking and harder cornering.
Two of the most significant costs affecting the bottom line of every transportation company are the amount of fuel used per trip and insurance premiums, Vanlaar said.
The presenters said a fuel-efficient driving style was associated with significant reductions in the odds of both near-hit events and collisions. It also curbs fuel costs, helps to prevent insurance premiums from increasing and reduces the burden on the environment.
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“The Isaac technology uses all kind of sensors to collect how a driver is driving and then analyzes that to see what key factor is necessary for a driver to be better, and to tell this driver in real time how to do this or do that,” Vanlaar said.
“Even with all the wonderful technology we have on trucks today — predictive cruise, adaptive cruise, all the things — drivers still have the impact of fuel economy around 30%,” Sussenguth said.
For example, Sussenguth pointed out the impact of coasting on fuel consumption: Even when a driver might be approaching a stop light, the drivers should let inertia take them to the stoplight instead of riding the gas, then hitting the brake. All that can be captured by the data, he added.
