Beating Driver Fatigue on Long Hauls
For fleet managers, business outcomes like profitability and efficiency are all underpinned by safety. Without safety, you won’t be making money, and your business won’t operate as well as it should. This means guarding against driver behaviours like harsh vehicle control, speed, drowsiness, and distraction. As well as business outcomes, there are regulatory requirements around safety – such as mandated driver fatigue management – to which all operators must adhere.
One of the best tools for building a safer driving environment is telematics coupled with an intelligent video solution such as the AI-powered IQ Camera. Our recent TS24 global telematics report found that 73 per cent of respondents had seen fewer collisions on the road or job site since adopting telematics solutions.
However, telematics and AI-powered cameras are tools, and like any tool, they depend on what you do with the information. For example, with the driver scorecard module, you can measure several performance and safety metrics to better coach individual drivers on poor habits or reward positive behaviours.
The TS24 global telematics report uncovered that 72 per cent of respondents have seen an improvement in on-road behaviour after introducing a driver reward program – 27 per cent of those surveyed had already introduced a rewards and recognition program, while a quarter had rolled out performance-based bonuses.
This improved driver performance has real-world benefits. Jarratt Transport Solutions, based in the Port of Brisbane, Queensland, uses Teletrac Navman’s telematics solution and electronic work diaries coupled with a driver scorecard to reward and improve behaviour. The top-scoring driver receives a $500 bonus each month which, JTS says, is a drop in the ocean compared to the estimated 3000 litres per month of diesel it saves through good driving. JTS also has experienced a significant reduction in wear and tear – and therefore unscheduled downtime – on its fleet, further saving money and boosting efficiency.
For JTS, those outcomes all stem from telematics making its drivers safer on the road and instilling a safety culture within the organisation. Without safety, which means minimising activities like harsh acceleration and braking, and alerting drivers when they may be distracted, the company wouldn’t be saving fuel or minimising unscheduled downtime.
Distracted driving is a major barrier to safety
In the US, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association (FMCSA) found around 80 per cent of truck incidentsinvolved some type of driver distraction in the three-second window leading up to the crash. That statistic is based on historical data, so it stands to reason that as distractions like mobile phones have become a ubiquitous sidekick – and necessary business tool – for most drivers, then distracted driving has become an even more significant issue over time.
In Victoria, for example, the Traffic Accident Commission (TAC) recently found more than half of drivers admit to driving while quite tired and more than half also admitted to using a mobile while controlling a vehicle.
So, what is distracted driving? There are three main types – manual, visual and cognitive.
Manual distractions are things like eating or drinking, causing a driver to take one or both hands off the wheel. Visual distractions are anything where the driver moves their eyes away from the road and instruments, such as reading a map, operating the infotainment or looking at something on the side of the road.
Finally, cognitive distractions divert a driver’s mental focus away from the road and include things like talking on the phone (even when using hands-free technologies), chatting with a passenger, driving while emotionally distressed or daydreaming.
This is where video telematics has a role to play that can be your driver’s partner in safety as it works as a comprehensive solution that transforms your drivers’ experience from reactive to proactive.
The power of video telematics opens a new window of opportunity. Both the forward and inward-facing cameras assist and monitor the driver, providing a complete view of the driver’s surroundings—a technological co-pilot.
It also offers seamless integration into telematics platforms, creating a control hub for fleet managers. Managers can view event footage, request additional recordings, and elevate overall visibility.
In essence, it is a backstage pass to fleet performance.
With video telematics, driver status monitoring takes a proactive role, detecting signs of drowsy or distracted driving in real-time, while advanced driver assistance provides real-time audio alerts for high-risk actions such as lane departure or tailgating and works to actively reduce risks, creating a holistic approach to incident prevention.
Finally, solutions like this empower drivers during events that they want recorded or during emergencies. Driver-initiated events let them press an emergency record button, so critical footage is retained and then subsequently available in the fleet management platform, serving as the ultimate safety net.
What to look for in a video telematics solution
Video telematics has come a long way from dashcams and the new technology powering it takes the ability to record footage in real-time alongside the driver and pairs it with AI.
As the driver is on their journey, the camera is rolling. When an event is triggered via a specific threshold for that metric, for example, looking down at their phone for longer than a full second, the system triggers an audible alert to the driver while recording and securely uploading the footage and telematics data to the cloud for immediate review through a telematics platform.
A video telematics solution like Teletrac Navman’s AI-powered IQ Camera offers intelligent driver protectionand empowers both drivers and fleet managers to work towards a safer driving culture. Drivers are warned if they are engaging in poor behaviour, while managers get real-time insights into what’s happening out on the road, allowing them to reward great drivers and coach those needing improvement.
As a fleet operator or manager, safety is at the core of your business. With a telematics solution coupled with an AI camera, your drivers will be safer, leading to better business outcomes, higher profits, greater efficiency and reduced maintenance costs on your fleet.
Keen to start your telematics safety journey? Talk to your Teletrac Navman representative and build your solution today.