Technology has key role in improving fleet safety (video)

The use of technologies such as vehicle cameras and telematics can have significant safety benefits for fleets – but there is much more to it than just fitting the equipment.

Drivers need to be educated about how the technologies work and how to operate them, while fleet managers also need to ensure the data they correct is monitored and used correctly, delegates attending the Role of Technology in Running a Safe and Compliant Fleet seminar, sponsored by Athlon, at Fleet & Mobility Live heard.

Steve Openshaw, group fleet manager at Eric Wright Group said: “Technology provides a big and vital step for improving the safety of your drivers, but you do need to train your drivers in what they’ve got.”

One of Eric Wright Group’s successes has been with in-cab cameras, which provides the organisation with clear evidence in the instance of any collision or complaint about driving is received.

“We had insurance claims from other people who said our vans had switched lanes when our drivers were telling me they hadn’t,” said Openshaw.

“I had no reason to disbelieve them but I couldn’t prove they were telling the truth. Eventually we got in-cab cameras and it gave me an independent witness to show what was actually happening.

“There was a lot of kickback from drivers, but not long after we introduced them one of the employees who had been complaining the most had an incident and we could show him that we could defend him.

“We could show him the benefit of the technology. It is still a benefit even if an incident is our fault because we’ve got the information there.”

Gareth Jones, group fleet compliance manager at Speedy Services, is also an advocate of the technology, and he told the delegates: “We fitted four-way cameras on our 3.5-tonne dropside Transits, including driver-facing cameras, and then our health and safety managers asked if we could add another on to the rear to make sure the load is secure. Is the driver was doing everything they could? Are they using the tail-lift correctly?

“So we went a little bit outside the realms of the fleet to appease a different department, but it is important to get all stakeholders involved when you’re looking at technology across your fleet.”

Speedy Services’ cameras are connected to the vehicle telematics so in the event of a G-shock incident, the fleet team receives an email alert which provides footage from the incident.

What every fleet decision-maker needs to know about telematics

“We don’t need to try and work out the time from the driver, or trawl through the footage and data to find the incident, we just get the link straight to the video,” said Jones.

Other technologies Speedy Services uses is a the FHOSS Shield, which alerts both the driver and any pedestrian that they are in the operating area behind a vehicle.

“I call it our force field,” says Jones. “It uses a speaker on the outside of the vehicle to say ‘warning pedestrian’ to any pedestrian or vulnerable road user that breaks that field, and it also says it to the driver as well.

“Our next thing is to put automatic brakes on the vehicle for when the vehicle is reversing: we already have that technology for the forward movement, we don’t yet have it on the rear.”

Speedy also uses telematics for driver behaviour. “We look at the utilisation of a vehicle, driving hours, fuel usage, ad blue usage and so on,” says Jones.

“We currently download all our telematics data on a monthly basis, we send it to the board and then it gets filtered all the way down to line managers. From there we have a three-stage approach to driver training.

How to create a robust driver training strategy

“You can get so much data from telematics, but it’s about what you do with that information, because by doing nothing with it you could end up in a sticky situation in the event of an incident, or with warranty issues with the manufacturer.

“If this data is going to be sent to you, ensure that somebody or someone is managing that data.

“We have a team of two. They know more about Excel than I think Microsoft does, and they pool all this data, gather it all together, make it into a lovely presentation for me so I can understand it every month, rather than trying to work out an Excel spreadsheet.”

Openshaw adds: “Technology does provide a big and vital step for what you do, but you’ve got to be careful what you open up – you open up Pandora’s Box. If you know about an issue, you’ve got to action it, because if something happens you will be asked why, if they technology is there, you are not using it.”

The session also featured Martin Phillips, chief operations officer at Athlon.

The full debate can be watched below