Fleet managers can learn more about benchmarking at the first Commercial Fleet Summit and Exhibition on September 24 at the International Centre, Telford.

Will Murray, research director at Interactive Driving Systems, will be explaining why benchmarking is critical in striving for a crash-free culture as well as giving delegates the opportunity to benchmark against each other at the event.

The 12 most active participants in Interactive Driving Systems’ UK Fleet Safety Benchmarking Project, representing approximately 170,000 drivers and 80,000 vehicles, saved more than £11 million in direct collision costs over three years through claim rate and cost per vehicle reductions. In total more than 1,300 organisations have been engaged in work-related road safety via the initiative.

Using gap analysis across numerous areas of management - vehicles, drivers and journeys - the self-help online programme seeks to identify where organisations have weaknesses in their fleet safety policies and procedures and then identifies steps for improvement.

Murray said: “Across 10 policy areas, businesses can quickly identify where they have opportunities by benchmarking their own responses against other fleets. BT, by adopting the programme throughout its UK operations has recorded a halving of its collision rate and costs as well as recorded enhanced reputational benefits.

“Crashes involving driving for work in the UK are a problem that needs to be tackled by managers through improved procedures and practices.

“Reporting and recording the extent and causes of incidents helps organisations to improve the safety of their drivers and reduce financial costs by making informed decisions about the most effective measures to implement to manage risk.”