The Return On Investment from safety initiatives can be dramatic and this particularly true of How's My Driving participation – US studies indicate users can expect between a 1 to 20 and 1 to 24 ROI.

However, some of these gains are non-obvious:

• Consider uninsured costs of even minor incidents - e.g replacement vehicles, administration.
• Targeted use of your training budget on those who actually need it.
• Reports from the public of vehicle or load defects.
• Insurance premiums and excess levels can reduce significantly as your claims history improves.
• As part of an improved safety system it can help reduce ACC levies.

Many US studies have been conducted into the benefits of such programmes as ours by insurers and major fleet operators.

• Hanover Insurance Co. reported a 22% reduction in crash rate and a 52% reduction in crash costs after one year.
• Reliance Insurance Company found a 35% reduction in crash costs in the first year.
• Fireman’s Fund Insurance found a 20% reduction in accidents.
• Great West Casualty Company found that in the two years after they implemented HMD programs, loss ratios improved by 51%, and accident frequency dropped by 53%.
• John Deere Transportation Insurance’s study of 63 companies found a 45% decline in loss ratio and a 33% decline in accidents.
• By contrast, insurance studies of the installation of electronic monitoring “black boxes” in commercial fleets and passenger vehicles have produced 20% reductions in accidents [we believe HMD and GPS are complementary approaches].

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More information and references are provided in a University of Chicago study into the broader application of such schemes:

…various studies, mainly conducted by insurance companies, showing that the implementation of HMD placards, along with systems for monitoring the performance of individual drivers and investigating complaints, engender substantial reductions in accidents and losses. Reviewing these studies, Knipling et al. reported:

Several studies, mostly by insurance providers, have researched the efficacy of using safety placards, such as “How’s My Driving” stickers in improving safety in CMVs. These studies have shown significant reductions in vehicle crashes, insurance premiums, and DOT reportable crashes when fleets used safety placards with an effective feedback loop, that is, feedback combined with training and instruction. (Johnson 1998, The Fund 1999; STN 1999; Driver’s Alert 2002). For example, the Hanover Insurance Co. conducted a study with 11 different trucking fleets (n = 445 trucks) using “How’s My Driving” safety placards and reported a 22% reduction in crash rate and a 52% reduction in crash costs after 1 year.”²⁷

Other insurance company analyses, reported in press accounts, have found similarly substantial benefits from HMD, with Reliance Insurance Company finding that the implementation of HMD placards was associated with a 35% reduction in crash costs in the first year,²⁸ and Fireman’s Fund Insurance finding a 20% reduction in accidents.²⁹ Unpublished insurance company studies, supplied to the author by Driver’s Alert, a major player in the HMD market, suggested similar results: A Great West Casualty Company study of 78 trucking companies found that in the two years after they implemented HMD programs, loss ratios improved by 51%, and accident frequency dropped by 53%.³⁰ John Deere Transportation Insurance’s study of 63 companies found a 45% decline in loss ratio and a 33% decline in accidents.³¹ Other fleets instituting HMD programs have seen similar improvements.³² Insurance studies of the installation of electronic monitoring “black boxes” in commercial fleets and passenger vehicles have produced, by contrast, 20% reductions in accidents.³³

• No single initiative can be considered a silver bullet in addressing a poor safety record or excessive accident costs.
• Tracking reports from other road users over time gives you a valuable picture of a drivers strengths and weaknesses.
• After early difficulties, some drivers get more compliments than complaints.
• Our system is often introduced as part of a package of measures that each play their part in overall improvements.
• However, in larger markets such as Australia, UK, US and Canada insurers have found that improvements centred on systems like ours can cut accidents and insurance costs between 20 and 50%.