Category: Driver Performance

Improve Driver Performance With Fleet Tracking Solutions & Employee Incentives

Posted on | by Courtney redwell

 

Fleet Tracking Solutions Improve Driver Performance

 

Fleet tracking solutions offer many advantages; one in particular is it can help identify which employees have poor driving habits. Not only does this cause safety issues for your drivers and other people on the road, it is wasting company money on fuel and could be adding extra wear and tear to the vehicle.

It is crucial to tell your drivers if fleet tracking solutions will be implemented because that alone is going to improve their driving habits. Many of our clients installed the solution and noticed huge improvements within the first few weeks without having to discuss their drivers poor driving habits. When fleet tracking solutions are introduced properly, and you clearly explain what you hope to accomplish with the solution (such as reduced fuel costs by reducing idling and speeding) they will likely want to improve their driving on their own.

 

To assist you on implementation check out this download:
How to Successfully Introduce GPS Tracking to Your Team.

 

For those drivers who don’t improve on their own, fleet tracking solutions will help identify what drivers are costing you the most money (through speeding, idling, hard braking etc.) You may want to start out by addressing your drivers as a group, to avoid singling anyone out. This way you can bring up the most commonly seen issues to your drivers as a whole – and hope they all improve. If you are still struggling with a few individual drivers, it’s then best you sit down with them to discuss how their habits are wasting fuel and causing a safety concern, and what they can do to improve.

 

Employee Incentives for Most Improved Drivers

 

We have experienced many of our clients in the past creating a friendly company competition between all the drivers to see who can be the most successful. It makes it more fun for the employees to all compete for the best driver scorecard for the week. Some of our clients also start an incentive program to encourage drivers to have the best driving behaviour in the company.

Here are a couple ideas for employee incentives to improve driver performance:

  • Financial Incentive/Gift Cards
    Everyone responds to financial incentives. This is better for larger fleets with fluctuating numbers. You could do a monthly or quarterly financial incentive or gift card to the driver with the lowest idling cost, the fewest amount of driving incidents, the lowest amount of speeding infractions or a combination of everything.
  • Employee of the Month
    This is a fun, easy, low cost incentive a company of any size can offer. You could reward the best driver for the month the title of “Employee of the Month” and this could grant them various privileges around the office.
  • Group Incentive
    If you would prefer to do an office reward you could set goals for the entire office to be involved with. This might be staying under a certain amount of idling or keeping the number of driving infractions for the fleet, under a specific goal. As a reward to the office if the goals are met, you could take them all out for lunch, throw a pizza party, or let everyone off early one Friday before a long weekend.

The ideas are endless and your drivers will respond to GPS vehicle tracking whether you offer an incentive or not; offering an incentive may simply give that extra boost to drivers who take a little more convincing of the benefits of fleet tracking solutions.

Driving the Fleet Safety Movement

 

5 Ways Telematics Promotes a Positive Workplace Culture

Posted on | by Victoria Gole

Recruiting drivers is difficult enough and retaining those drivers can often be even more challenging. Therefore, keeping your drivers happy is very important. To avoid continuous turnover, it’s critical a positive culture and working environment is created for drivers.

High turnover of drivers can indicate not just an unhappy work environment, but also an unsafe environment. It can also be quite expensive for any business. Constant turnover means constantly having to recruit and train, costing extra valuable time and money.

Retaining Drivers with Telematics

Installing telematics in a fleet comes with amazing productivity, safety and engine health benefits, and it can also help to keep a positive workplace culture.

Fleet managers and owners often feel that drivers will think negatively towards installing a telematics system in their fleets. They worry it will be seen as a Big Brother type of invention.

 

Telematics can actually help with driver retention.

 

The main reasons for high turnover are:

  • Lack of Home Time
  • Compensation or Mileage
  • Unhappy with Supervisor or Manager
  • Weak Dispatching and Load Planning
  • Policies and Procedures

Create a Positive Culture with Greater Insight

GPS fleet management software can help address many of the reasons for high turnover because it allows managers to better understand and manage their fleet. Telematics allows fleet managers to capture more accurate, detailed information on vehicles, trips, and drivers; monitor fleet trends in efficiency, productivity, compliance, and safety; and make better, more informed decisions on scheduling, dispatching, and compensation.

 

Five Ways Telematics Promotes a Positive Workplace Culture

 

 

  • Record Accurate Mileage to Help Determine Fair Compensation
    Detailed mileage records are provided with telematics, allowing for a fair process to manage compensation by mileage for all drivers. A clearly communicated longevity or bonus program can also help to motivate drivers and encourage company loyalty.

 

 

  • Manage Hours-of-Service to Better Organize Personal Times
    Telematics manages miles driven, engine hours, and Hours-of-Service (HOS), which can also be great tools for organizing drivers’ home time as well. Also, knowing the driver’s personal situation can help to understand their needs; for example, if a driver is going through something significant in their life (eg. a divorce, new baby, etc.) a manager can balance the driver’s needs accordingly, during that time.

 

 

  • Improve Load Planning and Dispatching
    Drivers often get stressed out from not knowing when they will be able to get home, or plans changing frequently. Our software can be used to dispatch more effectively and better organize routes, to ensure that jobs will be done in a timely and logical manner. Creating a logical plan for drivers, while still allowing them to use their experience and judgement, is much better for everyone.

 

 

  • Clear Communication to Increase Driver Satisfaction
    It’s a tough issue to manage when a driver is unhappy with a manager or supervisor because there could be a variety of causes. However, when there are clear lines of communication from between management and drivers, satisfaction can be greatly improved; simply asking drivers for feedback will help them feel included. It is highly recommended full disclosure and explanation around the installation of telematics is provided to drivers for a positive management/driver relationship. Our support team would be happy to provide tips for a successful roll out.

 

 

  • Reinforce Driver Safety With Reporting and Management Tools
    Organizations need to be conscious of policy to ensure the approach isn’t too heavy-handed. A fleet management solution can ensure that the policies in place are followed through in a consistent and fair manner. For example, of course your drivers know how to drive. They know they should drive defensively and obey speed limits. Tight schedules and deadlines can sometimes cause drivers to lose focus on basic safe driving habits. Through safety coaching and reports, drivers will be safer and get in less accidents.

 

More Tools for Fleets

Our open platform allows fleet managers to have access to even more tools to help drivers. Managers can help make a driver’s job easier with driver tools such as apps for mobile invoicing & payment and time management. Our Drive App enables drivers to log Hours-of-Service, update their duty status, and carry out inspections using their tablet or smartphone.

Preventing Issues Before They Occur

We collect a wealth of knowledge for fleet managers within our data. This rich data can be used for predictive analytics to possibly warn when a driver is becoming unhappy or planning to leave the company. Careless driving with no regard to policy or lowered miles driven can be an indication of when a driver is unhappy and planning on leaving. Management can take this opportunity to engage the driver in a two way conversation to clearly understand what is making them unhappy.

Having this wealth of data at your fingertips can help a fleet to predict accidents before they occur. When a driver is working too many hours and not getting enough home time perhaps coinciding with increased counts of unsafe driving behaviours. We provide visibility into safety and utilization so management can balance the hours/shifts for each driver and across the fleet — keeping drivers well-rested, safe, and happy.

 

Source:
Original Post by: Heather Carlton, Senior Account Manager
https://www.geotab.com/blog/creating-positive-culture-fleets/

 

The Incredible Disappearing Car: Combating GPS Jammers

Posted on | by Victoria Gole

There will always be a part of the population that wants to “fly under the radar” and attempt to conquer GPS tracking devices with GPS jammers. GoFleet and Geotab are dedicated to maintaining a stable and robust system and will continue to make GO GPS devices as tamper-proof as possible.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission defines jammers as “illegal radio frequency transmitters that are designed to block, jam, or otherwise interfere with authorized radio communications.”

A GPS jammer is used by a person in a vehicle being tracked trying to hide his or her position to try and remain undetected. The jammer can be set to operate continuously or can be turned on and off, so a specific part of a trip is not tracked.

Harsh Penalties for Jammers

Canadian and U.S. law both prohibit jamming devices. Sections 4, 9 and 10 of the Canadian Radiocommunications Act prohibit the manufacturing, importation, distribution, offering for sale, sale, possession and use of radiocommunication jamming devices in Canada. In the U.S., the federal Communications Act of 1934 outlaws the sale, marketing, or use of a jammer. There are harsh penalties related to the use of jammers in both countries, including fines (up to $112,500 in the U.S.), seizure of equipment, and even imprisonment (in the U.S.).

Where in the World Am I? How a GPS System Works

To understand how a jammer functions, we must first understand how the global positioning system (GPS) works. A GPS tracker receives microwave signals from an array of satellite transmitters orbiting the Earth at an altitude of approximately 20,200 km. Once the tracker receives signals from four or more satellites, it determines its position through a series of time calculations and trilateration.

The receiver depends on these specific and precise satellite signals to determine where it is located in the world. The GPS tracking device then transmits this position and velocity information to a monitoring location. Normally, this data is communicated over a cellular network.

GPS Satellite Signal

Figure 1: GPS satellite broadcasting signals.

In some cases, satellite malfunction or solar flares can temporarily disrupt the transmission of GPS signals. A GPS jammer sends out radio signals or signal noise with the same frequency as the GPS device, to distort or override the GPS satellite signals. The GPS device can then no longer calculate its position because the satellite signal is masked by the interference.

What is a GPS Jamming Device?

A GPS jamming device or GPS jammer is typically a small, self-contained, transmitter that generates a 1575.42 Mhz interference signal over a 5 – 10 meter radius.

Usually, the user will plug the jammer into a cigarette lighter and place the unit close enough to a GPS tracker to disrupt the GPS satellite signal. Once powered up, they become fully operational in less than 20 seconds. The relatively low power and quick start up time allow the jammers to be used only when required. Criminals will switch them off as soon as possible to avoid detection. These jammers can be purchased on the Internet for pretty cheap (less than $100).

It must be noted that the use of jammers is not only unethical but is also illegal and potentially dangerous. In one case, a New Jersey driver used a jamming device to disable a tracking device in his work truck. He was working on a job at Newark Liberty International Airport when his jamming signal interrupted air traffic control information. An FCC investigator was able to locate the jammer using radio monitoring equipment and prove that it was causing interference. The offending driver, Gary Bojczak was charged and fined $31,875.20.

How GoFleet and Geotab Detect and Eliminate GPS Jamming Threats

Fortunately, the negative effects and usefulness of jammers are minimized with our devices.

MyGeotab picks up GPS signal disruption. When a GPS signal is not received, the Trip History map will show a missing or interrupted trip — clearly calling attention to an issue.

If GPS jamming happens mid-trip, a straight line will be displayed from when the jamming starts to the point where the jamming device is turned off. Anyone monitoring the vehicle will quickly see this and can investigate the cause of the missing trip information.

GPS Jamming MyGeotab

Figure 2: A straight line in MyGeotab indicates GPS disruption.

More immediate jammer detection is also available. The GPS module in our GO6 and GO7 devices have a jamming detection function that will trigger our device to report a debug log. This can be found in the log details of MyGeotab, appearing as: GpsJammingDetected.

For simplified monitoring of jamming and other GPS issues, an exception rule can be created in MyGeotab. This rule will generate an exception report and can trigger an alert or email for the event.

It is important to note that a GPS jammer disrupts GPS receiver functionality but all other functions are unaffected. The Geotab GO device will continue to gather and send information such as engine data, error codes, and auxiliaries, etc.

Source:
Original Article By: Vincent Scime, RMA Manager at Geotab
https://www.geotab.com/blog/combating-gps-jammers/

Immobilization, Driver Identification, and Safety

Posted on | by Victoria Gole

Safety is incredibly important at GoFleet, whether in relation to drivers themselves or maintaining the integrity and safety of client data. All Geotab services and products – both old and new – are constantly held to this paradigm.

Below, we will dive further into engine immobilization and describe how the NFC Tag Reader and the Driver ID Relay can be used to help manage the on-road safety of fleet drivers.

The Importance of Professional Installation
Because of the high variety and assortment of vehicle electronics and electrical circuits, it’s apparent that it can be challenging to wire the relay in a way that is fail-safe for immobilization. In a situation where an individual is not a licensed automotive electrician or equivalent, the complexity of the installation can lead to a vehicle not being able to start if for example the relay or a part of the circuit fails. No one wants to be responsible for causing a vehicle to fail to start when someone really needs to get home. To ensure a quality install, we recommend professional installation by a knowledgeable technician.

How Geotab Supports Driver Identification
The combination of the Driver ID system with the GO device is designed to ensure that the driver identifies themselves before they begin to drive. Adding a relay to the Driver system can activate a switch or turn a third party device on or off. It can even be used to activate a third party drive inhibitor or rev limiter that is both effective and safe. Geotab and its providers can’t always guarantee that a vehicle can be immobilized 100% reliably. For example, it will not work if there is no cell network coverage. The included relay can be used as part of the immobilization solution, but Geotab’s support ends at the functioning of the GO device and the relay. A licensed automotive mechanic/electrician would need to select an appropriate inhibitor for installation. There is a different standard applied to systems that can affect safety versus systems that can’t and it is important customers understand this point.

This is the reason the relay should not be wired-in directly for immobilization. The wiring diagrams for every possible vehicle make, model, and year are simply not available or practical to obtain and each has different potential issues. We’ll continue to support both the NFC Tag Reader and Driver ID Relay, individually and in combination with one another.

The NFC Tag Reader
The Near Field Communication (NFC) Tag Reader is an extremely popular add-on for GO devices which is used for driver identification. Through the use of the NFC Tag Reader, we offer a simple method for identifying and tracking drivers in pooled vehicles. With a simple touch of the NFC fob, vehicle operators can easily, quickly, and securely transfer their driver identification information up to the cloud.

Driver IDs are tracked using driver tags/GO keys, which use the same NFC technology. Each individual driver tag has a unique serial number and can be paired with a particular driver, linking individual trips to drivers. A GO device can be configured to beep constantly until a key fob is tapped to remind the driver to identify themselves. To learn more about our NFC Driver ID, take a look at Geotab’s NFC Driver ID Innovation History.

The Driver ID Relay
The Driver ID Relay can be used in conjunction with the NFC Tag Reader. This product requires professional installation by a licensed automotive electrician/mechanic. A relay is an electromagnetic switch that uses a small electric current to control the flow (i.e. turn off/on) of a much larger electric current. Our products for the IOX can be daisy-chained together with up to four components. Think of a power extension plugged into another power extension, plugged into another, etc.

Using the NFC Tag Reader and Relay in conjunction allows access to certain key features of a vehicle, making it a powerful tool for accountability and safety. In the case of daisy-chaining, the NFC Tag Reader has to be the first in the array. Since the Relay can essentially prevent current flow, eg. act as an open circuit until a key fob is tapped, access can be prevented to various components of a vehicle. If installed correctly, access to a light, switch, PTO, or other input can be restricted.

For more details on the installation requirements of the Driver ID relay kit, check out the SPR-RELAYKIT Installation Document.

Contact us to learn more about our other products and solutions.

Driving the Fleet Safety Movement

 

Original Blog From Geotab, by Harjot Singh, Technical Services Engineer
https://www.geotab.com/blog/immobilization-and-safety/

Fleet Driver Safety Tracking Improves Driving Habits

Posted on | by Victoria Gole | Leave a Comment on Fleet Driver Safety Tracking Improves Driving Habits

It is normal for a fleet manager to always want his drivers to be on their best behavior. However, this is not always the case. Each company will always have employees with an aggressive style of driving who will often take unnecessary risks in traffic. This can be a problem for multiple reasons. For starters, the constant accelerating and braking used by an aggressive driver results in fuel-inefficiency. A fleet manager will want all of his vehicles to be driven in a smooth and safe manner whenever it is being used in order to maximize fuel efficiency. With GoFleet’s driver safety tracking, fleet managers can track a vehicle throughout the day—how hard your employees corner, how hard they brake, their fuel consumption, etc.

Bad Publicity

Another issue is the image that these drivers are creating for their companies. When one of their drivers cuts somebody off in traffic or exhibits risky behavior on the road, not only does this anger other drivers but the reputation of your business is tainted and compromised. Suffice to say, bad news travels faster than good news and your company will have a public relations nightmare if your drivers engage in unsafe driving behaviour. Your employees represent your business.

Having an unsafe driver is simply bad for business. Your employees’ actions can cost you money. If your driver ever gets into an accident, it is the employer that is left footing the bill and having to pay more on insurance. That is where fleet employee safety tracking will make a world of difference. With GoFleet’s OBD GPS Tracking System, you will have all the necessary details at your fingertips and you will be able to track the driving performance of each of your employees.

GoFleet’s Driver Safety Tracking

Having this kind of accountability will only serve to make all of your drivers more responsible on the road. You do not need to be constantly checking up on them in order to make sure that they are driving responsibly. By integrating GoFleet’s Driver Safety Tracking, most drivers will represent your company well on the field. By giving you the best resources possible and give you up-to-date metrics, you will be able to rectify any business inefficiencies.

The most impressive aspect of a fleet employee safety tracking system is the level of detail it provides. You can find out anything from average speeds to top speeds to hard braking and this can give you a clear picture of how each of your drivers behaves in traffic. This can also make it much easier for you to set future goals for the company. It will be much easier for you to monitor the developments and see which drivers are complying with your business goals and objectives.

Then there is also the aspect of the drivers that do everything by the book. Until now, it may have been hard to differentiate the exemplary employees in your workforce. Through GoFleet’s driver safety tracking system, we help report those who standout and create new benchmarks in what constitutes an exemplary employee. You can compensate and rate performances accordingly.

Driving the Fleet Safety Movement

Driver Fatigue and the Underestimated Dangers

Posted on | by Courtney redwell

 

Driver Fatigue Danger

 

Driver fatigue can often be an underestimated danger. Companies rely on their drivers for getting to remote job sites, product deliveries, and transporting goods between warehouses. Your fleet drivers may often have to take long trips and/or inconsistent driving schedules which then results in them driving tired. A study in the US focusing around this issue found that being awake for 17-19 hours straight causes impaired performance equivalent to a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05%.

The National Sleep Foundation’s report “Sleep in America” found that of the 169 million adult drivers polled, 60% admit to driving while drowsy and 37% reported falling asleep behind the wheel. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) made a conservative estimation when stating that 100,000 of police reported crashes each year are caused by driver fatigue. Professionals have difficulty generating these estimations since it is often hard to prove fatigue is the sole cause of accidents. Unfortunately, there are no tests similar to alcohol impairment that can be administered and currently police do not include a fatigue assessment in their investigation practices. Driver fatigue is most common in the following demographics:

  • Shift workers with long commutes and/or inconsistent schedules
  • People living with children
  • Young adult males

Drowsiness can happen fast and many professional drivers tend not to consider tiredness a big threat therefore do not act right away. In the “Sleep in America” report mentioned before, it estimated that 1 in 5 drivers recognize drowsiness and pull over to take a rest. The most alarming and obvious ramification of continued driving is falling asleep at the wheel but there are other consequences that also may lead to accidents:

  • Driver’s ability to drive defensively decreases
  • Driver’s get irritable or impatient making them more susceptible to road rage
  • Driver’s alertness decreases which may cause them to miss road signs or traffic signals

Companies rely on their drivers to be alert and safe and driver fatigue poses a threat. If there is an employee injury or accidents due to a driver being too tired it can cost millions of dollars in damages and potential lawsuits if a third party is involved.

The need for technology to monitor this issue is increasing and some ideas have been circulating within the industry. Some of these ideas include heart rate detectors or eye scans to monitor driver fatigue. It is the responsibility of both the drivers and their fleet organizations to ensure best practices and safety when driving. This includes: strong recognition and decision making skills, being well rested, and always taking the correct steps when starting to feel too tired.

Telematics technology helps to track the health and status of your vehicles and also helps managers better manage drivers; it is important to also consider fatigue. An overly tired driver is much more likely to get in a crash than a well-rested driver. Business and fleet safety managers must encourage their drivers to spot driver fatigue symptoms (like slow reaction time, trouble focusing etc.) and to stay off the roads when experiencing these symptoms. The consequences of accidents linked to fatigue have been found to be more serious because drivers in this state normally make little attempt to avoid the crash.

 

Source:
Original Article Written by: Tori Denning, Accounts Administrator at Geotab
http://www.geotab.com/blog/underestimated-dangers-driver-fatigue/

Healthy Sleep: Judgement & Safety
Sleep Foundation: National Sleep in America Poll
Drowsy Driving: Facts & Stats

5 Ways to Effortlessly Manage Your Vehicles & Drivers

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Manage Your Vehicles & Drivers Effortlessly: 5 Easy Ways

As your business grows and becomes more complex, managing your drivers and vehicles also becomes more complex. Business owners and managers have to spread themselves thin in order to handle everything necessary to run a successful business. Using a fleet management system, there are five ways to effortlessly manage your fleet of vehicles and drivers so you can focus on your core business.

1. Automatic Reports

Your fleet management software can provide automatic reports regarding fuel usage, drivers’ behaviors, safety, after hour vehicle usage, driver time cards, etc. You can set up your software to automatically deliver fleet reports daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly. The reports can be displayed on the dashboard or sent to your email.

2. Automatic Alerts

When you use a fleet management solution, you do not have to constantly check-in with you drivers to make sure that they are doing what they are supposed to be doing. You can use automatic alerts to notify you if your drivers are idling excessively, driving aggressively, driving out of the authorized zone, speeding, etc. The automatic alert is send to your email or dashboard in real-time so you can contact the driver to have the behavior corrected immediately.

3. Audible Driver Coaching

Audible driver coaching alerts drivers with a set of beeps if they drive aggressively, stop harsh, accelerate rapidly, speed or idle excessively. This beep makes the driver aware that they were doing something wrong so they can correct the way they are driving. Often times, drivers get distracted and do not realize they were driving in an unsafe or inefficient manner. The audible driver coaching improves fuel efficiency and increases driver safety.

4. Fuel Card Integration

Integrating a fuel card system with your fleet management system can reduce fuel costs, identify vehicles or drivers that are using more fuel than normal and detect fraud. GPS data is compared with actual fuel consumption and fill ups right from the fleet management software.

5. 24/7 Vehicle Locations

GPS fleet management systems provide all of the vehicle’s locations any time of the day. You can easily view all of your vehicles locations on a map or create reports with the vehicles’ historic locations. If a vehicle is lost or stolen, you will be able to quickly locate the vehicle and get it back on the road to service your customers.

Driver Scorecard: What it is & Why it’s Important

Posted on | by Victoria Gole

What is the Driver Scorecard & Why is it Important?

What is the Driver Scorecard?

The Driver Score card report helps measure risk and safety scores based on various key indicators such as, speeding, harsh braking, over acceleration, and after-hours vehicle use. Designed with advanced safety technology, users can gain incredible insight into driver’s on-road behavior and make changes that will benefit the company in more ways than one. With the use of rules, the solution is designed to calculate the number of infractions and display data as shown in the chart below. The report, can be customized to each user’s preference to help identify safe or dangerous practices and further develop a fleet-wide safety program.

Why It’s Important?

Lack of safety can be crippling to any business, whether it’s fuel costs, labor costs, or just vehicle wear and tear. Driver safety is often overlooked as it’s tougher to gain quantitative data over behaviours and performance. This causes many companies to learn the harder way through higher insurance costs, maintenance costs and negative business reputation; proving that nothing has a greater impact on operating expenses than driver performance.

The margin of error within driver safety and compliance becomes narrower every year. Any tickets, accidents or claims impacts the entire company and forces harsher penalties, liability, and ultimately higher overall operating costs. There are numerous ways through which companies can implement measures as discussed below. These actions will not only help improve customer satisfaction but have a positive impact on the company’s bottom line.

Driver Scorecard Chart

Action Steps:

  • Post a weekly driver scorecard report for drivers and management. Allow drivers to self-evaluate and make efforts to improve poor driving habits.
  • Define penalties around unsafe driving which puts your company at risk. Communicate that unsafe driving will not be tolerated.
  • Develop baseline measurements of driving habits through a driver scorecard. Evaluate current liability and insurance costs. Set goals for improvement based on the measurements and measure against these goals at 3-6-12 month intervals.
  • Implement driver training for high risk drivers. A study by SAFED showed that the average driver reduces fuel consumption by over 10% following fuel efficient driver training. Additionally driver training reduces risk and claims by as much as 50%.

 

This Article Was Provided By GoFleet Support

GPS Tracking System Software Can Help Prevent Dangerous Driving

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Help Prevent Dangerous Driving With GPS Tracking System Software

In addition to ensuring your drivers are safe, business owners need to avoid unnecessary costs from careless or dangerous driving. Some people might think there is not much you can do to prevent dangerous driving when your drivers are on the road; however, with GPS tracking system software you can prevent this behavior.

GPS tracking system software can provide insight into your drivers’ activities allowing you to easily identify dangerous driving patterns. Dangerous activities include speeding, hard breaking, engine revving, rapid acceleration and sharp cornering. The GPS tracking system software does not only give you data about what your drivers are doing on the road today, you can also see how they were driving in the past.

The GPS tracking system software allows you to proactively communicate with your drivers using audible alerts inside of the vehicle. The alert is actually a beeping sound to notify your driver they have broken one of your customized safe driving rules. The driver can then realize what they have done and immediately correct their behavior. These beeping alerts will help your driver correct their own mistakes and, over time, their driving habits will improve.

You will be able to review customized reports using the GPS tracking system software. These reports can illustrate any risky drivers, the drivers who speed the most frequently and at the highest speeds, and the driving patters of each driver.

With GPS tracking system software, you can easily set up customized notifications that can be sent to your email or software dashboard. These notifications will let you know when a driver breaks one of your rules, in real-time. For example, notifications can be sent if a driver speeds, drives out of the authorized area, hard breaks, idles excessively or drives aggressively.

The key to preventing dangerous driving using a GPS tracking system software is to develop a safety plan for your fleet drivers. You need to make sure your business has adopted a culture of safety and awareness to help prevent accidents from occurring.

Comprehensive Fleet Driver Monitoring Best Practices

Posted on | by Devin Johnson

Best Practices For Comprehensive Fleet Driver Monitoring

When you want to take an integrated approach to driver monitoring, you must consider driver’s license data, traffic violation information, Motor Vehicle Records and telematics information. However, alone this take gives an incomplete picture of a driver’s safety.

Today, business owners and fleet managers have access to an unbelievable amount of information about their drivers. The trick is you need to play connect the dots with all of the information and driving records to get a comprehensive view of your employee’s driving record.

The best practices for comprehensive fleet driver monitoring include:

Establish An Initial Baseline

Monitoring your drivers has to start with a clear, complete and accurate baseline. Get an official 3-year Motor Vehicle Report provided by the state. All of your future driver monitoring activities will then be compared to the initial baseline.

Frequently Monitor

At the absolute minimum, drivers need to be monitored monthly. In 30 days, many things can happen that could lead to potential problems and increased risk of negligent driver entrustment.

Take Action

Once you have insight into your driver’s habits and behavior, you now have the ability to take action. Corrective action includes enrolling employees in additional driver training or having them ride with another employee for a specific period of time.

Separate from the additional costs of an unsafe driver, understanding your driver’s performance is the best thing to do to improve safety. It creates a culture of safety with safer employees and promotes a safer community.

Comprehensive fleet driver monitoring best practices require commitment and diligence; however, it has never been as easy as it is today. There are so many advances in fleet management technology that are making it easy for you to manage your fleet and take corrective action if it is needed. It is unbelievable how much more efficient, productive and safer implementing these best practices can make your business