Arval is highlighting the benefits to fleets of a sustained driver safety programme as the incident ratio for its in-house company car fleet reaches a record low.

Arval incident ratio drops to record low

The vehicle leasing and fleet management specialist runs around 200 vehicles on its own company car fleet and saw the incident ratio fall to 14.1% for the year to date – down from 40.0% in 2006. Over the same time period, the number of incidents recorded annually has dropped from 146 to 24 while the total cost of collisions has reduced by three quarters – from £98,970 to £25,900.

Tracey Fuller, engagement manager, at Arval, said: “We are releasing these figures because they show that the fleet safety advice we provide to fleets works in real world conditions and our own story is clearly proof of this principle.

“We believe that when it comes to fleet safety, it is a question of getting the basics right – recording accurate data about incidents, drivers and vehicles, then putting measures in place to bring about improvements.”

Fuller is also looking to drive the incident rate lower still, explaining: “Our experience is that, across many fleets with which we work, there is no limit to the effectiveness of these strategies. Where they are implemented with a genuine commitment from the board and effective policies, interventions and strategies to improve safety, incident ratios should continue to fall as the safety culture of the business grows.

“Certainly, we use best practice that we have learnt from our own fleet experience with customers all the time, and we are also able to use our own drivers and vehicles to test out ideas before suggesting them to others. It is an arrangement that works for everyone,” she finished.