The average uncoached van driver does something worthy of a driving alert every three miles, according to Lightfoot.
The company said data gathered during blind testing by its in-cab coaching devices before they were turned on showed that every 100 miles, the average driver accelerated too harshly seven times, braked heavily three times, and cornered too hard 18 times.
With van drivers collectively covering around 58 billion miles each year, Lightfoot said this could equate to nearly 20 billion instances of harsh acceleration, braking, or cornering annually on UK roads.
It said once its devices were turned on, harsh acceleration events had been proven to halve, with overall incidences of aggressive driving reduced by nearly a quarter.
Lightfoot CEO Paul Hollick said: “The testing we’ve done to show how the average van driver behaves reveals some shocking numbers. But it is important to understand this so we can then provide a benchmark, and a solution.
“It’s worth noting that these driving behaviours are often not illegal, and not always unavoidable either: sometimes a driver may have to brake or accelerate hard due to what’s happening on the road around them.
“We don’t want to stop those from happening as they constitute a safety issue. But what we want to do is cut out unnecessary, often aggressive driving actions, and we’ve proved beyond doubt we can do that.”
