It’s no secret that the key to safe roads must be those driving on them. On the whole, speed limits and road conditions play a minor role in road safety, while the actions and decisions of Kiwi drivers directly correlate to it.
Sadly, with the current high road toll and regular incidents or collisions, driver behaviour is an area that sorely needs improving. For New Zealand transport companies whose employees are on the road every day, their livelihood and safety depend upon driver behaviours. Fleet managers across Aotearoa must invest in this area to keep their workers and company safe. So the question is, how can you improve driver behaviour within your own company?
A smart solution
Meet smart dashcams from Teletrac Navman. AI-powered smart cameras allow fleet managers to monitor driver behaviour and the road around them to ensure drivers take all appropriate measures to keep themselves and other road users safe. Teletrac Navman’s recently released smart dashcams do just that – and what’s more, they do it in real-time. And they learn on the job, meaning your smart dashcams get better at identifying events and hazards in the real world over time. The combination of artificial intelligence, telematics data, and advanced on-board sensors work together to keep your drivers safe, accountable, and looked after.
Thanks to both front-facing and driver-facing cameras, all bases are covered. Both cameras are constantly recording to ensure it analyses all driving time footage, and collect valuable data from driver behaviours, vehicles, and the environment, day and night. The front-facing wide-angle camera makes sure that factors like driving distance from the vehicle in front, are captured. With instant voice alerts direct to the driver for violations like speed and following distance, it encourages your drivers to take greater caution and be alert to their surroundings and build on a culture of safety in the organisation.
In the same way, driver-facing cameras capture driver behaviours within the vehicle. A quick glance at their phone, an unbuckled seatbelt, a series of yawns, a lack of concentration – it is vital all these dangerous driving behaviours are detected before they become accepted as everyday driving habits. Any one of these behaviours can become hazards that result in collisions and other serious incidents, which means they must be nipped in the bud as soon as possible.
All these alerts can be used through the built-in coaching system that highlights poor behaviours as well as positively reinforce good habits direct with the driver to review and acknowledge. This helps improve coaching and training with your drivers directly in the business using real information and analytics. This means that fleet managers and safety officers can act immediately to alert drivers to hazards and risks in order to prevent collisions.
Straight to the point
Once you have pinpointed the areas in which your drivers are not performing safely or efficiently, you have the opportunity to offer them the help and training they need to improve. By knowing which driver struggles with what, you can target your training and reminders to more efficiently improve your entire fleet.
And that’s not all. For long-term improvement, your drivers themselves must be incentivised to work on their weaker areas of performance. With the Greenzone feature, the system recognises good behaviour on the road and alerts you to the fact. This is where scorecards and analytics comes in handy. Through the smart dashcam system, both you and your drivers can view behavioural data. This is gathered through the smart dashcams analytics and insights to rank the driver against a range of metrics the system can detect, including things like harsh handling, speeding, distracted driving, seat belt violations and more.
With the option for drivers to view their position on the leader board, and the opportunity for you to reward good practices, you can incentivise long-term improvement.
Been there, done that
We’ve seen over the past few months what happens when poor or dangerous driving behaviours are left unchecked. It couldn’t be a better time to explore the full potential of AI and telematics to support, encourage and reward safe driving behaviours on New Zealand roads. Teletrac Navman’s smart dashcams are a highly effective and simple way to do so. By highlighting behavioural issues with drivers as they happen, the issue of road safety can be directly and immediately addressed, resulting in safer roads and a more efficient company. Let’s work towards decreasing next year’s holiday toll and enjoying a safe and productive year on the roads.
*Michael Barnard is a transport solutions specialist at Teletrac Navman. This column appeared in the March edition of TransportTalk.
