Yodel has improved its fleet safety programme and reduced collision rates of its HGV fleet by using SmartDrive System’s safety programme.

The latest investment in SmartDrive’s video-safety programme has seen Yodel exceed its annual fleet safety target regarding collision reduction, in just six months, as well as exonerating its drivers when not-at-fault and providing protection from fraudulent claims.

Yodel has three cameras on each vehicle, a front-facing camera and two side cameras. The footage is risk scored against a comprehensive list of observations by SmartDrive’s risk analysts.

Andy Yemm, head of fleet and transport at Yodel, said: “There are two types of operator - those who react to incidents and those who want to proactively prevent them from happening.

“With SmartDrive we benefit from objective risk scoring of on-road instances and follow up with driver coaching. It was great news to hear that, on the strength of data from the SmartDrive programme, our insurer accepted that our new proactive approach to road safety was capable of significantly reducing our collision risk.”

Yodel chose SmartDrive Systems following an intensive head-to-head trial period.

Yemm said: “SmartDrive was not the lowest cost choice, however it was evident during the trial that it was the most likely to help us achieve our ongoing safety goals

“The SmartDrive footage and coaching insights give us the final piece of the jigsaw, which makes it far more powerful when we sit down with a driver to show them what actually happened.

“We always recognise good driving as well as catching poor driving and drivers have also found the system a powerful advocate.”

SmartDrive says Yodel is looking to roll out SmartDrive on its yard shunters.