Benchmarking

The concept of benchmarking in business arose not so long ago. Initially, this word came from the English words bench – bench and mark – mark, mark. Standing on a bench, they noted, for example, the water level during a flood. Nowadays, the word benchmarking refers to the practice of comparing activities between departments or competitors in order to identify the best approaches to work and implement best practices.

In the field of road safety, it would be useful to compare the accident rates of various corporate fleets and then try to understand why some companies achieve better results and fewer accidents than others.
To compare fleets, you can use various metrics, or, more simply, units of measurement. The first thought that comes to mind is to compare the number of accidents in different companies. However, it should be borne in mind that the more a driver is at risk, namely on the road, the more likely he is to get into an accident. Time in the risk zone is called exposure to risk. Therefore, it will be more accurate to count the number of accidents divided by the total mileage traveled by the entire fleet.
Another possible metric could be the proportion of the company's vehicles involved in accidents during the year.

In order to compare different accident companies, the very definition of an accident should be the same for everyone. For example, some companies consider a stone caught in the windshield as an accident, while others do not. Some people consider downed animals as an accident, while others do not. And then it is impossible to compare these data. For some companies, any insurance event is an accident.

Next, you need to take into account the distribution of vehicles in the fleet by type of car (cars, trucks, buses, etc.), by region, in which industry the company operates. It would not be very correct to compare a mining company and a pharmaceutical or taxi company.

After the data is reduced to some common denominators and classified, it's time for a deeper analysis. For each company, you need to collect detailed information about what policies, standards, measures, and tools are used. And using statistical analysis methods, try to find out which of the entire arsenal of the company makes the greatest contribution to reducing accidents. In other words, how did the champions become champions?

If it has been possible to identify significant success factors, then at the last stage it is necessary to distribute this information among all participants in the benchmarking project so that they can adopt it. After all, there should be no competition in road safety!

In the field of road safety, it would be useful to compare the accident rates of various corporate fleets and then try to understand why some companies achieve better results and fewer accidents than others.
To compare fleets, you can use various metrics, or, more simply, units of measurement. The first thought that comes to mind is to compare the number of accidents in different companies. However, it should be borne in mind that the more a driver is at risk, namely on the road, the more likely he is to get into an accident. Time in the risk zone is called exposure to risk. Therefore, it will be more accurate to count the number of accidents divided by the total mileage traveled by the entire fleet.
Another possible metric could be the proportion of the company's vehicles involved in accidents during the year.

In order to compare different accident companies, the very definition of an accident should be the same for everyone. For example, some companies consider a stone caught in the windshield as an accident, while others do not. Some people consider downed animals as an accident, while others do not. And then it is impossible to compare these data. For some companies, any insurance event is an accident.

Next, you need to take into account the distribution of vehicles in the fleet by type of car (cars, trucks, buses, etc.), by region, in which industry the company operates. It would not be very correct to compare a mining company and a pharmaceutical or taxi company.

After the data is reduced to some common denominators and classified, it's time for a deeper analysis. For each company, you need to collect detailed information about what policies, standards, measures, and tools are used. And using statistical analysis methods, try to find out which of the entire arsenal of the company makes the greatest contribution to reducing accidents. In other words, how did the champions become champions?

If it has been possible to identify significant success factors, then at the last stage it is necessary to distribute this information among all participants in the benchmarking project so that they can adopt it. After all, there should be no competition in road safety!