Why 83% of fleet risk is preventable (and what that means for your operation)

Fleet risk is getting harder to manage. UK traffic reached 342.6 billion vehicle miles in 2025, up 1.9% on the previous year and above pre-pandemic levels. Motor insurers also paid out a record £11.9 billion across 2.5 million claims in 2025, while the Government's new Road Safety Strategy will place even greater emphasis on safer fleet operations and compliance.

So, as the challenge evolves, fleet risk management must evolve with it.

Video telematics (cameras and connected software) is central to this evolution, with fleets reaching 83% risk reduction by moving through the three stages of safety: Record, Protect, Transform.  

Here’s what that means and how to achieve it.

Record: Seeing what happened

Cameras and vehicle tracking transformed fleet safety because, for the first time, operators could see what actually happened.

As the Association of British Insurers supports, dash cam footage helps establish what happened, resolve liability more quickly and protect innocent drivers from disputed or fraudulent claims.

So, drivers got real-time warnings of danger. False insurance claims became easier to challenge. Compliance became easier to demonstrate, and investigations became faster and more objective.

That saved countless hours and untold sums of money, and for years, that was enough because it was the best information available.

That’s no longer the case.

Protect: Seeing what's about to happen

The next stage is to transition from passive to active risk management. Instead of asking, "What happened?", fleets begin asking, "What's about to happen?"

This is where AI starts to make a real difference. Rather than simply recording incidents, modern video telematics can identify risks as they develop.  

Driver fatigue, distraction, vulnerable road users, low bridges, tailgating and other hazards can all be detected and tackled in real time.

The RoSPA estimates that driver fatigue contributes to around 20% of road collisions and up to 25% of fatal and serious crashes on motorways, despite often developing gradually and showing warning signs beforehand.  

Detecting those signs earlier gives fleets the opportunity to intervene before fatigue becomes an incident.

Beyond this, mid- and post-journey AI coaching helps drivers respond more effectively and understand how they can reduce risk.

Video telematics analytics also give fleet managers a broader picture of risk across the operation. Instead of isolated incidents, they can spot recurring patterns, whether that's fatigue on early-morning shifts, harsher braking at one depot or repeated near misses on a particular route.  

That insight helps fleets target coaching where it will have the greatest impact.

In short, risk reduction becomes proactive rather than reactive.  

Transform: Creating a safety-first culture

Technology can identify risk, and fleets cover passive and active risk reduction in the Record and Protect stages.  

But the final evolution happens when drivers become engaged participants in a safety-first culture.

Some of the latest driver companion apps enable exactly this. Instead of treating drivers as the subject of fleet safety, they make drivers active participants in it.  

By giving them greater ownership of their own performance, while respecting the privacy they rightly expect, fleets create a far more positive relationship with safety.

The Health and Safety Executive identifies workforce involvement as a key characteristic of a positive safety culture, recognising that organisations achieve better safety outcomes when employees actively participate in improving safety.

As drivers take a more active role, managers spend less time reviewing footage, chasing incidents, and delivering generic coaching, letting them focus on the drivers and risks that matter most.

The result is a stronger safety culture across the entire operation.  

Safety becomes part of everyday decision-making rather than something that's only discussed after an incident, reducing risk while also easing the operational burden on fleet managers.

So, what does 83% actually mean?

By now, you'll have realised that 83% doesn't mean eliminating 83% of collisions. No responsible provider could make that claim.

It refers to a reduction of up to 83% in risky driving behaviours: the habits and decisions that, left unchecked, often become incidents further down the line. That's why the three stages matter.

Record helps fleets understand what happened. Protect helps them identify and reduce risk before it becomes an incident. Transform builds a culture where drivers engage with safety, and continuous improvement becomes part of everyday operations.

The result is fewer opportunities for those behaviours to lead to collisions, claims, vehicle damage, and unnecessary operational costs.

No fleet will ever eliminate risk. But with the right approach, far more of it becomes preventable than people realise.

Conclusion

Fleet safety has always evolved alongside the challenges facing the industry. As those challenges continue to grow, so must the way fleets manage risk.

Recording incidents was once enough. Today, it's the starting point. Too many fleets still stop there, while the most successful have already moved into the Protect and Transform stages.

That's where fleets achieve an 83% reduction, and those that embrace it will be best placed to reduce risk, control costs, and thrive in an increasingly demanding operating environment.

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