Several fleet publications this week carried the findings of a survey of 200 fleet managers carried out by tracking systems purveyor Road Angel Fleet which claims that more than two thirds of fleets are still without a tracking system.
The survey established beyond any possible doubt that 68 per cent of fleets have any sort of tracking system installed, and only 11 per cent have tracking installed across their entire fleet.
Road Angel in Chief Graham Mackie is perplexed but not downhearted at fleet managers’ persistent disregard for the manifest benefits of having tracking systems installed: “It’s understandable that fleet managers, and their finance departments, are hesitant when it comes to investing in a tracking system – it can involve a substantial capital outlay and the tangible, monetary benefits are often hard to measure.”
Surely he can do better than this, you’re probably thinking. Of course he can; he’s just lulling you into… well, let’s just call it lulling. Anyway, back to the action:
“Measuring how much fuel you save by reducing idle times or private mileage is very difficult, as are the productivity gains resulting from more efficient vehicle use. We have worked, and continue to work, very closely with a number of our clients to establish any potential cost savings they are experiencing by using our systems, and on average each continues to save in excess of £1,000 of fuel per vehicle, per year – and that’s not taking into account any insurance or maintenance savings. That equates to a return on investment of over 500 per cent in some cases.”
Whether Mr Mackie is available for public speaking engagements in not made clear. But Bankstone News can confirm that they do have a very interesting –not to say bizarre – website with an oddly sepulchral feel to it. Bone-white type on a raven-black background establishes the death-obsessed gothic ambience. The ghostly image of a distinctly dark graveyard angel broods over a layout that includes the cross-hairs of an assassin’s rifle and the fragile spiky peaks and troughs of a cardiac monitor – beating still, but for how much longer?
An animated screen meanwhile shows a death-wish driver (tracked by satellite of course) weaving recklessly in and out of traffic crossing Westminster Bridge before narrowly avoiding stationary vehicles in Parliament Square and finally ploughing through a line of smaller vehicles to slam (as we must always now say) into the back of a coach packed with schoolchildren.
What kind of angels, exactly, are watching over Britain’s Roads?
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