Drivers today face more than just traffic. They deal with constant time pressure, performance targets and rising risks on the road. According to the 2025 Geotab EMEA Safety Survey, 95% of drivers believe accident risk has increased over the past five years. Nearly 70% say stress and mental health lead to riskier driving. And 42% point to mobile phone use by others as the most dangerous behaviour they see.
These insights from more than 3,500 drivers point to an important relationship between mental load and driver behaviour. For fleets, it is a chance to take safety to the next level.
The Facts: Understanding the Impact of Driver Stress
Drivers today are operating under intense and complex conditions. Long shifts, demanding customers, tight urban delivery windows and inconsistent infrastructure all create a perfect storm of stress and fatigue.
• 31.5% of drivers report experiencing fatigue while driving.
• 42.3% say they feel mentally exhausted during or after their shifts.
• 50% admit to regularly breaking speed limits to meet delivery targets.
These pressures can slow reaction times, cloud judgement and increase the risk of mistakes in complex traffic. Many fleets already monitor vehicle performance in great detail. The next opportunity is to complement that with more insight into driver wellbeing, so that risks can be recognised and addressed earlier.
Bringing Hidden Risks into View
Work-related stress does not always show up on a dashboard. Drivers may hesitate to report it. There is no sensor for anxiety, no alert for burnout. And without tools to track it objectively, even the best managers may be unaware until something goes wrong, such as a near-miss, an accident or driver turnover.
Long-term stress affects more than safety. It can lower morale, increase absenteeism and undermine team culture. In a competitive labour market, that is a long-term risk no fleet can ignore.
Taking Fleet Insights to the Next Level
Standard telematics provide valuable insights into what happened on the road: speeding, harsh braking, and idling. The next step is to understand why. Did distraction or fatigue play a role? Was stress a factor? These are insights that AI-driven tools can now bring into view. By adding the driver’s mental state to the picture, fleets can shift from reacting to incidents to helping prevent them.
AI Is Closing the Gap
Moove’s AI safety systems are designed to make driver wellbeing visible, measurable and coachable in real time.
AI safety cameras
Recognise signs of distraction, fatigue or unsafe behaviour. When a risk is detected, the driver receives an instant audio or visual alert inside the vehicle.
MooveDriver App
Gives drivers a personal safety and eco-score, feedback after every trip and short video coaching tailored to behaviour. Includes gamification features to boost engagement.
Privacy-first by design
Fully GDPR-compliant with options for facial blurring, limited data access and local-only video storage. Building trust and transparency is key to successful adoption.
What AI Safety Looks Like in Action
AI safety is already delivering measurable results across fleets. Take Euroloo, a UK-based portable toilet provider. Geotab showed that after implementing in-cab AI cameras and coaching, they saw:
• A 41% drop in over-acceleration.
• A 52% reduction in harsh braking.
• A 100% decrease in false claims (thanks to event-based camera footage).
And these are not pilot results. This is what happens when mental load is turned into measurable action.
Ready to Take Driver Safety to the Next Level?
Managing a fleet is not just about tracking vehicles. It is about understanding your drivers. When stress goes unchecked, safety suffers. But with the right tools, drivers feel supported and risks go down. Want to know how AI can help? Download our e-book Safety First and discover how to build a safer, smarter fleet.
