As winter approaches, it is time to ensure that your fleet vehicles are ready for icy roads and cold weather. In addition to ensuring that your drivers are trained to drive on ice and snow, you can improve the safety and efficiency of driving by installing GPS trackers on all the trucks.

Here are a few ways GPS fleet tracking devices help with winter fleet driving safety during the winter season.

Maintenance Reminders

Some fleet vehicles need more maintenance in the winter to ensure the trucks are in good working order. You get up-to-date maintenance reminders throughout the winter season through GPS tracking. You can program the GPS tracking technology to remind the driver and you that maintenance, such as an oil change or tire rotation, needs to be done. A good working vehicle that gets repairs and tune-ups at the right time will help keep your drivers and vehicles safe.

Informing Customers

There may be times when the roads are so bad, that truckers are either delayed a few hours, or need to put off making deliveries until the following day. This might not happen often, but it does happen. Your GPS tracking device can keep a close eye on drivers and let dispatch know immediately if based on their speed and location, the routes are going to take a little longer. When they notice a pattern of delays, you can contact your customers and them know as soon as possible. Read the rest of this entry »

The year 2018 promises an “abundance of winter weather” in the northern half of the country, according to The Weather Network. For fleet managers, this can be a giant headache ready to happen. Especially if anyone remembers the ice storm that turned Interstate-75 in Atlanta into a parking lot in 2014. And this winter season is already wreaking its havoc, where Erie, PA received a whopping 53 inches during Christmas Day and the day after, making traveling on roads slow going.

That is why it is better to have a plan in place to help you manage your fleet when winter weather hits full force, before your drivers (and their precious cargo) are left stranded by circumstances. GPS fleet tracking can be instrumental in helping you avoid similar situations with your fleet as winter approaches. Here’s how.

Encourage Safer Driving Behaviors

Winter weather is no laughing matter. It can take even seasoned winter drivers by surprise – especially during the first few winter systems of the year. When you have drivers from all over the country traveling unfamiliar roads, it can cause more than a little chaos. Read the rest of this entry »

GPS fleet tracking offers many potential benefits to firefighters as they fight fires of all shapes and sizes. Some of the benefits are more obvious than other, but all of them work together to help firefighters save lives and properties from devastating flames.

Create More Accurate Images of Forest and Wildfires

Forest and wildfires are often particularly devastating because of the inability to know exactly where the flames are reaching. The traditional method has been to use flyovers to create a sketched map of the flames. The problem with this method is multi-faceted. First, sketches aren’t exactly pinpoint accurate. Second, smoke obscures things and helicopters above are often unable to get a clear picture of where the fire actually is.

Enter GPS fleet tracking. Trackers on the ground are used by satellites in order to create an accurate image. This allows firefighters to see the exact size and location of the fire so they can create accurate plans to combat the fire. This can save lives of firefighters and help create more accurate evacuation routes for area residents – saving the lives more civilians too.

Reduce Dispatch Response and Travel Time

When it comes to fighting fires and saving lives, seconds matter. GPS assisted dispatch helps to reduce the amount of time it takes to notify the proper station(s) so that help can start rolling out faster. The GPS fleet tracking ability to locate the fastest routes and bypass traffic, can greatly reduce the travel time for responding trucks. Read the rest of this entry »

A man in Michigan City was arrested for being connected with a suspected chop shop after a stolen snowplow truck was tracked down by police through its GPS tracking device.

Thomas Lambert, who is 48, is being charged with 3 counts of Level 6 felony theft in LaPorte Circuit Court. Mike Kellems, LaPorte County police Capt. says more charges could be coming against Lambert. The truck was reported stolen from a Hammond snow removal company right before Thanksgiving. Lambert had said he purchased the truck, according to court documents.

The plow’s satellite GPS tracking device led investigators directly to Lambert’s home, and once they received a search warrant, they found evidence of the stolen plow as well as a fuel transfer tank, a pump, and a salt spreader all cut off of the truck, according to court documents.

Thirty other vehicles were found by the investigators while they were searching for the stolen plow, and many were stripped right to the frame. Read the rest of this entry »

Fleet business owners have enough concerns in their daily operations than having to worry about their fleet vehicles breaking down. This is why fleet preventative maintenance is essential so you will be able to detect smaller issues before they turn out to be huge problems.

Fleet managers, for the most part, do fairly well in making sure their vehicles run at peak performance. However, when they take a lackadaisical approach to the maintenance of their fleet vehicles, it can cost their business thousands of dollars. Therefore, it’s imperative that fleet managers stay on top of and ensure their business preventative maintenance program is in place and working effectively.

Common Mistakes

Here are three common mistakes fleet managers make with respect to fleet maintenance.

1. Not Setting the Standard

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