2017 will see fleets increasingly turning to ‘big data’ to drive areas from compliance through to road safety, according to the Association For Driving Licence Verification (ADLV).

The best practice frequency for compliance in licence checking by fleets has recently increased to twice a year, on average.

Already the best practice frequency for compliance in licence checking by fleets has increased to twice a year, on average, and many larger fleets are now carrying out quarterly checks.

Richard Brown, MD of ADLV member Licence Check, said: “Not that long ago, many organisations were limited to annual checks. However, as the technology is now there to carry out more frequent checks with ease, fleet managers are building this into their compliance plans on a quarterly basis.  This ensures that the data that fleets are now working with is almost constantly updated and therefore of a much higher quality.

This year will also bring more use of big data to drive fleet analytics in support of management decision making, including ADLV data.

Malcolm Maycock, ADLV chair and managing director of the Licence Bureau, said: “Driving licence data is one of essential elements here in terms of setting the parameters for risk profiling and management for all businesses that allow employees to drive on their behalf.  It’s also the obvious starting point to begin to profile the driver pool with a view to encouraging better driving styles and habits.According to recent research by Direct Line, this could cut annual fuel bills by 40%, as well as reducing wear and tear on vehicles and driving down accident rates.”

The ADLV added that it will work with road safety experts over the course of this year to identify how ‘Knowing Your Driver Better’ can boost road safety.

ADLV director and secretary Dave Bartleman said: “There are collaborative opportunities here to see how the data we and others generate can feed in to the road safety dynamic. We expect to announce a new research project later in the year involving the ADLV, safety experts and leading fleet executives.”