Marshall Hendricks from Imperial Fast ‘N Fresh Cape Town is officially the best driver in Daimler’s FleetBoard Drivers League for 2015, scoring 9.95 out of a possible 10 points.

It is some achievement given the participation of 19 438 drivers from 359 companies in 18 countries.

“There are so many factors that determine what makes a good driver, such as braking, accelerating and using the correct gears at all times. The Daimler FleetBoard system makes it so much easier to access and understand the information from the truck. I would often log into the system to see how I was doing against the other drivers, and this meant we had a high and very healthy level of competition,” says Hendricks.

In the local Drivers’ League, Pieter Adriaanse, also from Imperial Fast ‘N Fresh, took second position, followed in third by Paulus Mkhize from Willowton Logistics. The top three fleets were: Makali, Anderson’s Transport and Plantation.

The international participants in the Drivers’ League compete against one another in everyday operations behind the wheels of their Daimler trucks, with the prospect of attractive prizes for those demonstrating the most economical style of driving.

Drivers must cover a monthly mileage of at least 4 000 km and be FleetBoard users, with winners determined on the basis of their driving style score in the FleetBoard Performance Analysis. The score is made up of fuel economy factors and braking behaviour. Apart from anticipatory driving in keeping with characteristic maps, the scoring takes into account accelerator movements, consistent speeds and the number of stops, as well as brake pedal movements.

All participants are provided with a profile on the Drivers’ League homepage, which they can individualise with personal data and use to view their current ranking and check the standings of their fellow contestants.