Driver and vehicle safety are the major challenges facing fleet operators, a recent survey by logistic management company EROAD shows.
Driver shortages, communication and rising business costs come in close behind.
The findings show operators have a genuine concern for staff and a commitment to getting drivers safely home to their families every day.
Their concerns are highlighted by ACC estimates stating work-related crashes, including commuter crashes to and from work, account for around half of all workplace deaths.
Fleet owners are striving to build a workplace culture that prioritises safety and helps them meet their company’s obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
EROAD driver safety team senior product manager Rebecca Kemp says a new wave of technology is helping businesses and drivers tackle many of the problems.
New devices are enabling drivers to make “smarter and safer decisions about how they drive on the road”.
“Innovative technology, including in-cab driver behaviour tools, can play an important role in the trend towards ever-safer road transport,” she says.
Creating more driver accountability also reduces speed and most safe driving programmes include a focus on driving to the posted speed limit.
Where telematics has traditionally enabled companies to track speed against open road speed limits, some providers – including EROAD – have taken that further by tracking against posted speed limits and making driving event data available online to fleet managers via a portal.
“It’s important that the reasons behind monitoring speed are communicated well, with a focus on rewarding safe driving and supporting training,” Kemp says.
EROAD’s next-generation in-cab device, Ehubo2, augments the safety and coaching experience with real-time driver feedback.
It enables identification not only of vehicle activity but also which driver was in the vehicle at the time via an onscreen driver login.
That offers the flexibility of being able to add all of drivers into a system, including temp drivers, with no requirement to manage cards or key fobs.
More exact identification of drivers leads to better data on driving behaviour which benefits appraisals and reward programmes.
“What surprised us was the impact that a driver logging into a vehicle had on his or her driving. In a recent EROAD study we found that driver accountability reduces speeding by at least 50%,” Kemp says.
“The combination of the driver’s name clearly displayed on the in-vehicle unit and the attribution of driving events back to the driver, rather than the vehicle, allows the driver to actively respond by improving adherence to the speed limit.”
Such tools are seen as effective solutions when they operate alongside leadership from a company’s senior management team, fleet and safety managers.
“To deliver the best outcomes, management need to be change agents in creating a culture of safety within their company.
“The culture promoted by management affects whether a dispatcher allocates appropriate time to each run or pushes the envelope; whether a driver approaches each intersection anticipating the need to halt at the traffic control device or runs an amber light.
“In a 2016 study, EROAD found that management engagement is key to impacting on-road driving behaviour. Organisations that pay consistent attention to EROAD’s driver behaviour analytics have 38% fewer speeding events than organisations that don’t view them at all.”
A best-of-class telematics solution will see a company reduce mountains of paperwork. It will deliver significant and measurable improvements to safe driving programmes by supporting positive behavioural change, Kemp says.
She says there are a number of key things to look for in the technology. It must have an easy-to-use driver login. The driver’s name should be clearly identified on an on-screen login on the in-vehicle device, with personalised reporting available via a driver portal.
The device should encourage strong engagement with drivers. Feedback from some customers is that data tracking has led to competitive behaviour among drivers, Kemp says.
EROAD’s 2016 benchmarked driver behaviour report, Leaderboard, found customers who regularly use it have an average vehicle rating of four stars. Compared with customers who did not, a low engagement resulted in an average vehicle rating of three stars.
The devices should deliver real-time in-vehicle coaching. Tools such as EROAD’s Drive Buddy support drivers with speed data and notifications for harsh braking, cornering and sharp acceleration on a full colour touchscreen so they can make safer decisions while they’re on the road.
They should provide personalised driver feedback for better coaching. Textual and driver-specific analytics can save driver trainers days of combing through a multitude of reports for each driving assessment.
The devices should be a visually appealing one-pager like EROAD Driver Insight, which the trainer or fleet manager can generate immediately for ongoing and quick feedback.
Providing visibility of sub-contractor driver behaviour is another factor. You can’t manage what you can’t see and analytics should provide visibility of sub-contractor driving behaviour, so you can ensure they meet the same high standards you expect from your own fleet.
In summary, it’s a win-win for safety and for your business, with tools that enhance visibility of driver behaviour, support drastic reductions in speeding, and deliver best in class analytics that enable your leadership team to monitor and maintain an organisational focus on safety.
