The study was funded by the Austrian Workers' Compensation Board (AUVA), the Insurance company for railways and mining (VAEB) and the Public Employers Insurance (BVA).

Background & Scope

The aim of the study was to evaluate whether and how telematic-based driver safety training affects professional drivers and how long effects will persist. For this purpose, two independent samples of drivers were recruited, whose driving behaviour by means of safety telematics devices was collected over a period of 7 months. One sample consisted of 72 bus drivers (regular service drivers), the other sample consisted of 61 employees of a facility management company who, in the course of carrying out their duties, drive cars in order to get to and from the service locations.

Method

The sample allocation within the bus and car participants was carried out after a one-month survey duration on the principle of selecting the lowest performing drivers, as it is e.g. common in the context of traffic psychology aptitude diagnostics. The driving behaviour was surveyed with the help of built-in vehicles telematics devices, and operationalized by speed choice, acceleration, braking and cornering behaviour. Per driven trip, percentages per driver were determined for each parameter and then aggregated over a period of one month. The safety scores thus obtained provided the basis for participant allocation to the control or intervention group. Drivers assigned with good or average were allocated to control groups, persons with below-average values to intervention groups.

Based on the collected parameters, tailor-made content for driver safety training was developed and implemented during the second observation month with three test groups each (Bus & Car) with different training focuses. The focus of bus driver training sessions was either awareness of speed selection, improvement in acceleration performance or a combination of enhancing cornering and braking behaviour. The emphasis of the car driver groups was either only on speed behaviour, or on a combination of speed and dynamic driving aspects.

Results

The performance of two groups with a focus on driving behaviour parameters of speed and acceleration behaviour suggested plausible training effects, as no statistically significant differences between the control and intervention groups could be detected after the training. In the case of bus drivers of the test group with a focus on braking and cornering behaviour, no training effects were found. Within one car-driver group statistically well-founded training effects with regard to driving dynamics improvements were determined.

The study results suggest that telematic-based driver safety training allows drivers with shortcomings in some areas of driving behaviour to balance these deficits and to raise them to at least average levels. It can therefore be assumed that individual driver improvement of the risk results in safety gains and (financial) benefits for companies as well.

Finally, it was recommended, to implement the study results in the context of (compulsory) drivers training and further training for professional drivers and a more comprehensive evaluation to estimate the safety-relevant effects of in-house (feedback) activities for drivers.