For fleets already using the driver-centric fleet management solution from ISAAC Instruments, driver scorecards and real-time coaching have become essential training tools, helping to improve skills and reward good driving. During a recent webinar, executives with three fleets shared their positive experiences with ISAAC Coach and driver scorecards.
With these technologies, fleets no longer need to piece together data from various sources before they can share results with drivers. Safety and performance information can be viewed in real time, aiding the driver to better understand how their actions impact overall performance. When results and feedback are provided to drivers long after the fact, it can be more difficult to improve upon long-established driving habits.
Winning is a high-stakes business
Trucking, like professional sports, is a high-stakes business, where minor mistakes can have major consequences. Like competitive athletes, drivers take pride in their profession and want to learn in order to achieve their full potential.
The advanced training tools available to motor carriers are similar to the scouting reports and training tools of professional sports teams for training athletes before, during and after games. Rather than reviewing yesterday’s performance, truckers can now engage with technology in the moment to track and improve their progress towards meeting personal and company goals.
Once implemented across the fleet, driver scorecards can be tied to financial incentives as well as recognition and reward programs to positively impact job satisfaction and increase overall fleet safety.
Putting drivers in control
However, experience has repeatedly shown that drivers lose interest when faced with with scorecard measurements that they do not directly control, or do not understand what they could have done differently to change the outcome.
Without a fair scorecard system, a driver might achieve a high score one day and inexplicably fall below average the next. Creating a fair playing field is precisely what the ISAAC Coach and the driver scorecards can help achieve.
ISAAC Coach provides a fair grade based on ecodriving performance that allows for a precise comparison among drivers. It provides a universal score that is based solely on efficient and safe driving and does not penalize drivers for elements outside their control, such as vehicle aerodynamics, road slope and wind. The focus is on what the driver can control, such as smooth acceleration, shifting and optimal use of cruise control.
These metrics, along with fuel efficiency data, can be displayed with color-coded fields and icons as part of a real-time feedback loop to make information easy to digest and act upon. The result can be as much as a 15% increase in fuel savings fleet wide, and that allows fleets to more easily reward their best performing drivers through incentive programs.
Also, by leveling the playing field, drivers tend to be far more engaged in the process, creating not only a competitive environment but also one where each person is supportive of their fellow drivers and try to lift each one to a safer and more efficient performance.
With the latest driver scorecard and coaching technology, drivers feel in total control of their results and use real-time feedback to make adjustments that will more rapidly advance their safety and performance goals.
