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Idealease revolutionizes fleet operations with ELEVATE®, our proprietary Driver Performance System that improves driver safety and saves fleets millions of dollars in annual operating costs.

Sign up for the ELEVATE® Question/Tip of the Week and receive short, actionable, and easy-to-use information to help your drivers operate their vehicles more safely while reducing fuel consumption, idle time, wear and tear on equipment, maintenance costs, vehicle downtime, and more.

If you have a question or a topic you would like covered in a future ELEVATE Question/Tip of the Week, email ELEVATE@Idealease.com.

Find a complete list of ELEVATE topics below.

Q:

My route is in a high-traffic region, so I can’t help but produce high idle times.

A:

While you can’t help but produce higher idle times than other drivers in lower-traffic regions, you can still manage your idle times and drive as efficiently as possible.

We have analyzed and compared several different routes in high-traffic situations. The average driver may result in 22% idle and insist they are doing their best. We placed a driver that has a reputation for lower idle in that same route, and they showed results of only 16% idle.

As we’ve analyzed different regions and similar high-traffic conditions, we found a difference of anywhere from 3% to 10% based on the route, with average improvements of 5% to 7%.

How do they do it? Through managing and anticipating the traffic patterns, the higher idle drivers tend to accelerate leading up to a stoplight until they need to brake. The lower idle drivers tend to prepare ahead and decelerate while coasting to the light, which may turn green; these drivers usually avoid idle altogether. The same management applies in heavy highway traffic. Speed up and stop in bumper-to-bumper traffic, or just coast? Slight driving improvements make all the difference in increasing your fuel economy.