Is Your Driver Safety Program Effective? 5 KPIs To Track
You can have all the right policies, training, and handbooks in place, but if you’re not measuring results, how do you know it’s working? A truly effective driver safety program runs on data. The right metrics help you spot risky behavior early, track progress over time, and make smarter decisions to keep your drivers and your business safe.
How KPIs Guide Your Safety Efforts
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the foundation of an effective driver safety program. They give you clear, measurable insight into how your drivers are performing, where risks are emerging, and whether your safety initiatives are working. In simple words, KPIs help answer the big question: Is what we’re doing actually making drivers safer and reducing risk?
No matter where you are in your safety journey, aligning your efforts with these five KPIs will help you track progress, reduce risk, and improve accountability.
1. Motor Vehicle Record (MVR) Violations
MVR violations are one of the clearest indicators of driver risk. Speeding, DUIs, license suspensions, and other infractions directly impact safety and often signal the need for closer oversight or retraining.
Tracking violations helps you spot repeat offenders, understand risk patterns across your fleet, and take timely corrective action before an incident occurs. Tools like MVR Monitoring and MVR scoring can make this process more efficient by flagging negative changes as they happen and helping you focus on those drivers with high-risk behaviors.
What to Track:
- Number and type of violation (e.g., speeding, DUI, license suspension)
- Frequency and recency of violations
- License status and eligibility
- MVR score trends
2. Driver Behavior and Performance
Driver behavior is the root cause of over 90% of traffic accidents, yet most risky habits go undetected. Risky driving habits such as hard braking, rapid acceleration, or phone use often go unnoticed unless you monitor them. Telematics data and in-vehicle technologies give you the visibility to detect unsafe patterns early and take action before they result in a crash. When used strategically, this data enables targeted coaching and reinforces a culture of accountability behind the wheel.
What to Track:
- Harsh braking, rapid acceleration, and cornering
- Cell phone use or distracted driving
- Speeding and seatbelt use
- Behavior trends over time
3. Accidents and Near Misses
Near misses are early warning signs of bigger issues. Logging and categorizing all incidents, even minor ones, helps you identify trends and prevent future collisions. A centralized system and telematics make it easier to analyze data and improve routes, policies, or coaching.
What to Track:
- Number and type of incidents (accidents vs. near misses)
- Preventable vs. non-preventable incidents
- Location, time, and contributing factors
- Video context from dash cams (if available)
4. Training Assignment & Completion Rates
You can’t improve driver behavior without a plan for coaching and reinforcement. Monitoring who has been assigned training, who has completed it, and how they performed ensures your efforts are actually driving change and helping you stay compliant after a violation or incident.
What to Track:
- Training assignment history by driver
- Completion status and timeliness
- Type of training (onboarding, remedial, refresher)
- Quiz or assessment scores
5. Compliance and Inspection Results
DOT audits and inspections directly impact your fleet’s safety rating and operating authority. Tracking violations by category helps you pinpoint the root causes, whether related to drivers, vehicles, or internal processes, and make adjustments to stay compliant and audit-ready.
What to Track:
- DOT roadside inspection outcomes
- CSA scores and trends
- Out-of-service violations
- Documentation errors (e.g., expired med cards, missing logs)
Bringing Your Safety Data Together in One Platform
Embark Safety’s platform brings all of these metrics together in one place, giving you a complete, real-time picture of driver risk.
From continuous MVR monitoring and scoring to automated remedial training assignments and medical card expiration tracking, our tools make it easy to stay on top of compliance and mitigate driver risk.
With built-in alerts, dashboards, and reports, you can quickly detect trends, take corrective action, and document your safety efforts for internal stakeholders or DOT audits without chasing down data from multiple systems.
Want to explore how it works? Schedule a demo or learn more about pricing.
Turning Insights Into Action For a Solid Driver Safety Program
Understanding where your fleet stands is just the first step. The real impact comes from how you respond. Data is powerful, but it’s the actions you take based on that data that drive meaningful change, reduce risk, and create a safer, more accountable driver safety program.
*We are not lawyers. Consult with your legal counsel to ensure your processes and procedures meet/ or exceed safety standards and compliance regulations. Please read our legal disclaimer.
