Using Data Insights To Create A Safer Fleet

Last year, nearly 1,200 people across the country were killed in traffic-related incidents. That’s more than three fatalities on our roads every day. Road traffic injuries are one of the biggest causes of death in Australia, and ensuring driver safety is paramount to all, whether you’re behind the wheel of a sedan or an 18-wheeler.

A Clear, Complete View

Fleet management systems and telematics help to uncover and understand the behaviours of drivers, by monitoring location, speed, fatigue, harsh usage, and more. Designed to work in the most remote areas of Australia, telematics offers valuable data accessible for the back office in real-time via a clear and easy-to-read platform.

With easy access to all driver data at a glance, operation and fleet managers can easily identify problem driver behaviours and trends, and provide coaching sessions to improve a driver’s on-road habits. For example, if a driver exceeds the speed limit, the in-vehicle device automatically provides audio/visual feedback to the driver to slow down.

Back-office administrators and fleet managers can send any driver an instant message prompting them to slow down if they’re noticing a trend of over speeding. If this becomes an on-going issue, the data within automatically generated non-conformance reports can be used as part of a discussion with the employee about their behaviour and a program put in place to reduce incidents.

In our 2019 Telematics Benchmark Report, nearly half of all fleet managers reported that vehicle monitoring devices have reduced driver incidents, a significant increase to the 23 per cent reduction from 2018’s report. The 2019 report also found that telematics has improved driver behaviour by 41 per cent and boosted driver safety by 27 per cent.

Keeping Tabs On Fatigue

Spending extended periods of time alone on the road, far away from family and friends, truck drivers must manage their mental health, wellbeing and fatigue levels. It’s important for fleet operators to know about their drivers’ health on the roads, as well as their working and rest hours.

Solutions like Electronic Work Diaries (EWDs) helps drivers to self-manage fatigue in the face of strict deadlines by automating in-cabin alerts for rest breaks based on their working hours. Designed to keep you compliant with Chain of Responsibility (CoR) requirements, EWDs help drivers stay safe and give managers peace of mind that their fleet is safe.

EWDs provide back offices with second-by-second data, allowing them to better schedule jobs based on their real-time working hours. This ensures that all drivers are safely able to manage their fatigue levels from the get-go.

A Well-Maintained Fleet

Driver safety isn’t just about the mental state of those behind the wheel. The physical condition of your vehicle plays a massive role in fleet safety, where a small error or fault can lead to huge, potentially fatal consequences.

With an electronic pre-trip checklist, you and your maintenance team are instantly notified of any new or potential issues with your fleet before they become serious problems. This means that vehicles are able to be grounded depending on the severity of the situation, further parts can be ordered and vehicles can be fixed upon their return. No more nasty shocks, no more surprises.

With complete maintenance scheduling capabilities based on engine hours, odometer values or date/times, it gives the business a clear view of their vehicle’s operating capabilities and allows managers to schedule their fleet accordingly in case a truck needs urgent repairs. Pre-trip checklists work in real-time, so businesses don’t need to rely on paperwork that could be outdated and inaccurate. Operators can schedule work around vehicle service requirements, ensuring up-keep, compliance and safety.

Creating A Culture of Safety

Telematics allows you to get to the heart of what’s happening in the business, and where your biggest risks are. With so much daily data at your fingertips, you can use these insights to create a culture of safety across the entire business.

Let’s say that you identify speeding issues among several drivers in your fleet. You can use their unique insights to a driver training program, complete with custom scorecards based on each driver’s personal behaviours.

Driver scorecards are an easy yet effective way to use data to create a safer workforce. Many businesses also use rewards and incentives to promote safe driving behaviour for problem drivers. Of the 78 per cent of companies from our 2019 Benchmark Report monitoring driver behaviour, a third reward positive behaviours, leading to fewer safety violations.