Fleets Investing in Safety and Training
25 Jan 2017
Fleets are taking the time to invest more in safety and training today than in the past. Fortunately, there are many opportunities to improve fleet and driver safety that are cost-effective tools for trucking businesses and interests to pursue. Improving safety protects drivers, trucks, and the cargo they are carrying. It’s a win for businesses that seek improvement in this area. Below are some of the tools businesses are using to make these improvements.
Cameras
Not only are fleet owners installing cameras in truck cabs to monitor driver fatigue, but they are also using cameras on the exteriors of trucks to help drivers avoid accidents when changing lanes and rear view cameras to assist drivers when backing up.
GPS Tracking
GPS fleet tracking is particularly useful in providing electronic logs for things like the number of miles drivers travel in a day, the number of hours they’re spending behind the wheels, and for monitoring driver behavior (speeding, hard braking, swerving, lane changes, etc.) on the road. This holds drivers accountable for their actions behind the wheel and encourages them to be more safety minded at all times while driving.
Logging the hours drivers spend behind the wheels is not only a matter of compliance with federal laws, but also a matter of ensuring drivers have adequate down time during the day to get the sleep they need to remain safe behind the wheel. While this is no guarantee that drivers will actually sleep during this time, it does help to ensure they have the opportunity to do so.
Active GPS tracking can also assist drivers in avoiding dangerous situations on the road, navigating around unnecessary delays, and even planning routes around weather systems that could prove problematic.
Mechanical Assistance
Some major fleets are testing out on-board technology to help improve safety for drivers. This includes things like lane departure warnings to help drivers avoid drifting off into sleep, brake assist technology, and adaptive cruise control to help trucks automatically adjust to remain a safe distance between vehicles that are ahead of the truck on the road.
Whether it’s a matter of training drivers more thoroughly about company policies or offering new technologies to help drivers stay safe on the road, the more steps businesses take to improve safety, the greater their return on investment should be in terms of lower insurance rates, fewer accidents, fewer citations, better customer relations, and a better overall public image.
Looking to improve the safety of your fleets and drivers? Contact us here at LiveViewGPS at 1-888-544-0494 to learn more about GPS fleet tracking.
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