5 Ways to Use Telematics to Improve Your Fleet’s Safety
Telematics can provide fleet operations with key insights into their fleet vehicles and drivers. This information can be used for vehicle maintenance and employee training, and it can also be used to increase the overall safety of a fleet operation.
Take a look at how telematics allows fleet operations to monitor driver behaviors, provide drivers with feedback, address driver fatigue, hold drivers accountable for their actions behind the wheel, and monitor vehicle health.
Monitor Driver Behavior
Fleet operations can use telematics to monitor driver behaviors. This can include determining if a driver is speeding, aggressively accelerating or suddenly stopping. These behaviors can be tracked and documented to allow fleet managers to discuss the unsafe actions with the driver.
Give Drivers Feedback
Telematics allow fleet operations to provide drivers with concrete feedback. This can take many forms. Operations may opt to put together a driver scoring system based on driver behaviors. This number can show drivers if there are areas where he or she needs to improve. It can also be used to rank drivers. Putting together a public list of driver scores can motivate employees to improve their safe-driving habits. Fleets can also use telematics to give drivers alerts in real-time to unsafe driving behaviors. This can make a driver aware of the action as he or she is doing it so they can correct it immediately.
Combat Driver Fatigue
Fatigued drivers can be a risk on the roadways. In addition to ensuring drivers follow the hours-of-service laws, operations can also monitor driver behaviors to watch for signs of fatigue. Using telematics, fleet operations can monitor a driver’s total drive time, miles and HOS violations.
Holds Drivers Accountable
Telematics provide data and statistics that tie drivers to their driving behaviors. Giving drivers reports on speeding, accelerating and hard braking can make them aware of their unsafe tendencies. This data can be used to create scoresheets for each driver -- or for the entire fleet -- to outline where improvements need to be made.
Fleet operations can also require drivers to log into telematics devices when they are behind-the-wheel, further tying the driver to their actions. This will link the driver to any driver behavior reports that are logged during that trip. Knowing that they will be held accountable, and that their behaviors are being tracked, can encourage drivers to improve his or her driving habits.
Monitor Vehicle Health
Telematics can alert your driver and fleet staff to issues with a vehicle. This can allow the driver to pull the vehicle off the road and allows the technicians to get a heads up as to what is wrong with the vehicle and to prepare for it to come into the shop.