Businesses have key role to play in city-wide driver behaviour trial

Local businesses are being invited to play a part in a groundbreaking Exeter motoring trial that could make driving in the city, the South West and, eventually the globe, cheaper, greener and safer.

The citywide trial of Lightfoot®, which helps drivers save fuel, cut emissions and reduce accidents by driving more efficiently, is due to start in March having received hundreds of applications for the 100 trial places.

Now Exeter-based Lightfoot®, which originally developed the driver behaviour technology for the commercial sector and is using the trial to see if similarly impressive results can be achieved among the general public, is calling on local businesses for prizes to encourage participants to drive as efficiently as possible.

Mark Roberts, managing director of Lightfoot®, said: “A key aspect of the trial, which will establish just how much Lightfoot® helps to cut fuel and emissions among the general public, is for participants to be able to compete in private and public leagues to show how efficiently they can drive. 

“As well as giving the best drivers the bragging rights over their friends, family and colleagues, we want to see how reward encourages better driving overall.  As a result we’re looking for local partners to put forward prizes of all sizes that will enable us to reward efficient driving throughout the trial with weekly prizes as well as overall winner prizes.”

“From a meal for two to a spa break, we’re looking for a whole range of prizes that will give our participants every reason to drive as efficiently as they can.”

Businesses interested in offering prizes can find out more about the trial by visiting http://www.lightfoot.co.uk/exeter-pilot
 
Prizes already available in the Lightfoot® leagues include the keys to an all-electric Nissan Leaf for seven days courtesy of JFE Nissan, a free karting experience for ten donated by Raceworld Indoor Karting, and a free supercar driving experience at a UK racetrack, sponsored by Optix Solutions.

The Lightfoot® trial will run over several weeks to assess just how significant fuel savings and reductions in CO2 emissions are among drivers using Lightfoot®. After the first few weeks of the trial, during which Lightfoot® will simply record driving styles, its unique audio and visual driver efficiency system, will then go live.  At this point participants will be able to check on their performance and participate in the interactive reward-based leagues, which will include an overall winner prize for the city’s most efficient driver.

All cars involved in the initiative will be monitored before and after the interactive stage of the trial, enabling Lightfoot® to see improvements in fuel efficiency once its driver improvement technology is switched on. The anonymised results will then be used by trial partners Exeter City Futures to measure the impact Lightfoot® could have if it were scaled up to more drivers.

Should the trial replicate similar results as those achieved in the commercial fleet sector, where fuel bills have been cut by 15% and accidents have been reduced by 50%, the implications could be substantial for Lightfoot® and for motorists around the world as the tiny Lightfoot® device can quickly and easily be fitted into most existing cars across the globe.