REDWOOD CITY, CA — A recent report by GreenRoad highlights some interesting differences between North American fleets with those across the pond in the U.K.

The report, titled 2011 Worldwide Fleet Driver Performance Benchmark, aggregated 2011 data representing actual driving behavior of 85,000 fleet drivers logging over 127 million trips and 7.4 billion miles across North America and United Kingdom.

Driving was measured across five major categories: braking, acceleration, corner handling, lane handling and speeding. Data was collected and calculated to determine a safety score — the lower the better.

Geographic differences between the two regions show in the category breakdown: North America’s most dominant safety event was speeding, making up for 40 percent of the average safety score’s risky maneuvers. In the U.K., it was the exact opposite of speeding: harsh braking, coming in at 43 percent.

For North America, sharp cornering was second, at 26 percent, with harsh braking following at 16 percent, lane handling at 10 percent and rapid acceleration at 8 percent.

Sharp cornering was also second in the U.K., at 39 percent, lane handling and acceleration at 8 percent each and speeding at 2 percent.

“U.K. fleet routes are largely urban environments with extensive roundabouts and other road features that require precise cornering ability,” says Jim Heeger, chief executive of GreenRoad. “On the other hand, North American fleets tend to drive in a more mixed environment of urban, suburban and rural environments with more freeway and highway driving, thus you see the tendency for fleet drivers to speed in the U.S.”

The data also showed that 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. is the riskiest driving time in North America, and in the U.K., 11 p.m. to midnight is riskiest. In the U.K., December is the safest fleet driving month, and January the riskiest month, while in North America, average safety scores do not vary widely month-to-month.

Taken together, the GreenRoad worldwide average safety score dropped to 22 versus 29, a 24 percent drop — something both the Brits and us here in the colonies can be proud of.