Federal Fleets Combine Safety with Fuel Efficiency

Defensive driving reduces fuel consumption and prevents collisions. That is why the federal government is offering the Canada Safety Council’s Defensive Driving Course (DDC) to many of its fleets. Employees who drive as part of their job may enroll in either the classroom course or the online version of the new “Green” DDC, which combines fuel efficiency with road safety.

The training started this year as a Natural Resources Canada initiative to bring the government’s fleet operations into line with Canada’s commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. Exhaust emissions from vehicles are a leading cause of climate change, urban smog and acid rain.

By improving their drivers’ skills, government fleets will reduce fuel consumption as well as collisions. That is because environmentally friendly driving is also safer driving. For example, fast starts and hard braking not only show poor driving technique but also waste fuel.

The collision rate for the general population provides a baseline measure for fleet safety performance. One in every 25 Canadian drivers (four per cent) is involved in a collision of some kind every year.

Outside the NRCan purview, the Department of National Defence has offered DDC since 1968. In 2002-03 DND had a collision rate of only 1.1 per cent. In other words, the average Canadian driver is four times more likely to have a collision than a trained DND driver! Thanks to the NRCan program, many government fleets are aiming to achieve or surpass that record.

Any business whose employees drive company vehicles should take note. A fleet whose collision rate is over four per cent has a definite safety problem, especially if over half are at-fault. A poor safety record is expensive. Cost leakages (possibly hidden) result from repairs, insurance, injuries and high fuel consumption.

Safe driving is an important occupational safety concern. In 2001, motor vehicle collisions accounted for 31 per cent of work-related traumatic injury fatalities, plus 10,000 time loss injuries.* Public and private sector fleets will benefit from a well thought-out fleet safety program that includes DDC.

* Work Injuries and Diseases: Canada 1999-2001, National Work Injuries Statistics Program, Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada.