Long-term effects of training in economical driving: Fuel consumption, accidents, driver acceleration behavior and technical feedback

The effects of training in fuel-efficient driving for bus drivers in a city environment were evaluated. Three dependent variables, hypothetically associated with such training, were used; fuel and accident data from the bus company, and driver acceleration behavior from five buses, over time periods of several years. Effects of temperature and number of passengers on fuel consumption were held constant. Fuelling and acceleration data yielded fairly similar results. It was found that, although the effects on these variables during training were very strong (as found in a previous study), these did not transfer well into the drivers’ working situation. Overall, the effect was about two percent fuel consumption reduction as a mean over 12 months after training. No effect was found for accidents, although a two percent reduction would not have been detectable. In a second phase of the study, 28 buses were equipped with Econen feedback equipment, which give an indication on how much fuel is used concurrently, resulting in a further reduction of consumption of about two percent.