How Acorn Mobility Services is zeroing in on fleet speeding incidents

Driving down accident rates

West Yorkshire-based Acorn Mobility Services Ltd, the world’s leading independent company specialising solely in the manufacture and installation of stairlifts, has experienced wide-ranging improvements in its fleet since rolling out Lightfoot’s award-winning incab technology and rewards platform across its 150 commercial vehicles.

technology has made a huge difference to Acorn’s fleet over the last few years, and with new features and developments being added all the time, the improvements keep coming.

The most recent addition to Lightfoot’s fleet management solution is the Live Overspeed Alerts feature. By alerting drivers when they are travelling over the speed limit, this latest development encourages safer, more considered driving that helps to bolster the safety of the fleet as a whole whilst driving down accident rates and insurance claims.

Duty of care

For Acorn Mobility, road safety is a chief concern. Speeding is one of the most prevalent motoring offences in the UK, and accounts for 13% of all road accidents1. By reducing speeding incidents within their fleet, Acorn can ensure they are fulfilling their duty of care by keeping their drivers – and other road users – safe from the potential harm caused by travelling at excessive speeds.

Of course, there are many other benefits to cutting down on speeding. Not only is it dangerous and against the law, but it can also leave fleets significantly out of pocket. When drivers speed, fuel economy is reduced, meaning more money spent at the pumps. As well as this, aggressive driving behaviours such as speeding put a lot of strain on key vehicle components, including the engine, brakes, and tyres. Plus, if a driver hits a particularly nasty pothole or other road obstruction at high speed, the fleet operator could be looking at a hefty repair bill for the damage caused.

Add to this the harm that speeding can do to a brand’s reputation if other road users notice that company’s drivers behaving unsafely, and the negative impact of speeding incidents within a fleet quickly mounts up.

Helped us reduce incidents of speeding by 81%

With these points in mind, Acorn Mobility Services was keen to trial the Live Overspeed Alerts feature. Whilst driver performance and safety were already much improved as a result of Lightfoot’s patented nudge psychology and real-time driver coaching, this new feature helped the company zero in on speeding incidents within the fleet.

Reviewing the results experienced during testing, Pete Hodgson, UK & European Fleet/Transport Manager for Acorn Mobility Service Ltd, had this to say:

“The Live Overspeed feature has been a great addition to Lightfoot and has helped us reduce incidents of speeding by 81% in just a matter of weeks. This means that we not only have a safer fleet, but our vehicles are being driven more efficiently and there’s less risk of wear and tear or accidental damage on the vans too. It’s been a win-win all around.”

Lightfoot’s MD, Paul Hollick, commented:

“Whilst the Lightfoot system already does a great job of preventing speeding by training drivers to adjust their driving style, the Live Overspeed feature takes this one step further by addressing speeding incidents as they happen. It’s brilliant to see companies like Acorn Mobility creating a safer driving culture throughout their fleet by integrating this new development into their Lightfoot platform, and the results show that it’s already making a considerable difference.”.