In a move designed to draw attention to the issues of excessive idling and poor fuel management within the commercial vehicle industry, MiX Telematics is sponsoring the launch of TfL's Clean Air for London Commercial Vehicle Anti-Idling and Fuel Management campaign. In doing so, MiX Telematics hopes its support will help speed the end of the perennial and wasteful practice of excessive idling and encourage operators to employ the latest fuel saving techniques and technologies.
"Despite on-going efforts to educate drivers, there is no doubt that both excessive idling persists and as such represents a major issue for operators within the commercial vehicle sector. This fact alone demonstrates that there is still much to be done in terms of optimising fuel management," comments Steve Coffin, Marketing & Operations Director for MiX Telematics. "While the practice of allowing engines to run for no particular reason may be convenient from a driver's point-of-view, it is also a proven fact that idling is a major contributor to fuel consumption and, therefore, pollution.
"For these reasons, we are wholeheartedly behind this TfL initiative and hope it will help consign both excessive idling and poor fuel management to history. We know from the data our operators provide via the MiX Telematics RIBAS systems (see editor's note) fitted to their vehicles that idling is a major cause of needless fuel usage and, therefore, inefficiency in operation. If we can succeed in obviating the practice, the end result will be significantly better not only for the environment and the public at large, but also for operators' bottom lines. In short, excessive idling should be regarded within the wider context of fuel management and as such treated with zero tolerance - for there is no situation in which it can ever be beneficial in any respect."