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35% reduction in crash costs in the first year,28 and Fireman’s Fund Insurance finding a 20% reduction in accidents.29 Unpublished insurance company studies, supplied to the author by Driver’s Alert, a major player in the HMD market, suggested similar results: A Great West Casualty Company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
27 KNIPLING ET AL., supra note 25, at § 5.3.4; see also Jim Emerson, Driving Test: Hanover Ins. Co. Uses Teleservices Monitoring to Cut Insurance Losses, DIRECT, Feb. 1, 1999, at T3, available in 1999 WLNR 5531465 (reporting results from the same Hanover study).
28 Banstetter, supra note 26, at 1A.
29 Deb Riechmann, Firms Get Good Mileage out of “How’s My Driving?”, PHILA. INQUIRER C1 (Mar. 26, 1999).
30 DRIVER’S ALERT: A VEHICLE SAFETY & INFORMATION SERVICE (unpaginated manuscript, on file with author).
31 Id.
32 See, e.g., Joey Ledford, How’s My Driving? Draws a Response, ATLANTA J. & CONST. B5 (Dec. 24, 2001); How’s My Driving? Helps Firms Slash Accident Rates, FLEET NEWS, July 3, 1998, at 32, available in 1998 WLNR 5732045.
33 MATTHIAS ROETTING ET AL., TRUCK DRIVERS’ ATTITUDES AND OPINIONS 4 (Liberty Mutual Research Instit. for Safety 2004); Peter I.J. Wouters & John M.J. Bos, Traffic Accident Reduction by Monitoring Driver Behaviour with In-Car Data Recorders, 32 ACCIDENT ANALYSIS & PREVENTION 643, 649 (2000).