Monitoring driver behaviour using an in-vehicle unit that flashes green, amber or red depending on how sensibly – or otherwise – the individual concerned is driving is becoming an increasingly popular policy among fleet operators. That is especially the case if such a system is combined with a tracking package and enables data on the driver’s behaviour to be downloaded for a subsequent discussion with the fleet manager.

Maybe the driver is risking a collision by, say, accelerating too fast, or braking too late – both faults that can be addressed through training.

If a van is involved however, then maybe the employer concerned needs to re-visit the driver’s delivery schedule. Perhaps as things stand he or she has no choice but to speed to complete the delivery round on time.

Based in South Africa, MiX Telematics provides this type of on-board package. There is little doubt that it works contends Alan Hall, managing director of the company’s Middle East and Australasia operation.

‘Recently we saw a fleet in the Middle East reduce its road accidents from 215 annually to just 6 within three years by using our system,’ he says.

‘Another Middle Eastern business saw a 72% sustained improvement in driver behaviour only six weeks after installing one of our solutions,’ Hall continues. ‘The same customer achieved a 15% reduction in fuel costs within 12 months.’

MiX’s Middle Eastern clients include Qatar Shell and JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration.

Underwriter support Fewer bumps and bangs mean fewer insurance claims, less expenditure for underwriters and hopefully lower premiums for clients. Not surprisingly therefore insurers are taking notice and offering their support for what could be cost-cutting technology.

In the USA, insurer CNA has admitted GreenRoad, another supplier of in-vehicle driver monitoring and management systems, to its “Allied Vendor programme”, which embraces over 12 companies providing risk management services. It is offering selected clients GreenRoad’s services for a four-month introductory period for up to 50 vehicles in the hope that they will be so impressed with the results that they will keep using what GreenRoad has to offer.

‘Driver safety remains a top priority and we are constantly looking for ways to help our customers mitigate their risk,’ says CNA senior vice-president of risk control, William Boyd.

‘GreenRoad helps drivers identify how to self-improve, and better drivers use less fuel, crash less frequently and reduce vehicle emissions,’ he continues. ‘It combines a sophisticated driver behaviour solution with powerful telematics to track vehicles and manage the fleet.’

The data generated can be used to create a fleet league table with the most-frugal and least-accident-prone drivers at the top.

Their performance can be rewarded by cash bonuses, which should help encourage other fleet drivers to raise their game.

Again, targeted training can help, and fleet driver training is becoming a big global business.

Earlier this year the UK’s AA acquired VVCR of Rijssen in the Netherlands for an undisclosed sum.

As well as providing fleets with consultancy services, including driver profiling, it delivers driver training, including e-learning in multiple languages for 25 different jurisdictions and has close ties with CITO, the Dutch Central Institute for Test Development.

Interest in on-board monitoring packages is increasing among fleets worldwide says MiX chief executive officer, Stefan Joselowitz.

‘So far as we are concerned North, Central and South America are the really exciting markets for us right now,’ he says.

‘In fact I relocated to the USA along with my family five years ago so I could lead our expansion in these regions from the front.’

A number of suppliers of vehicle tracking systems in South America have been talking to MiX about what it has to offer with an eye to expanding their portfolio of products and services, says Ken Creager, president and chief executive officer of MiX Telematics North America. ‘Representatives from Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia and Mexico among others have shared with us their concerns about having a limited product line-up,’ he observes.

Global expansion requires a multi-lingual capability, and MiX has developed new and improved French and Spanish websites.

Smile, you’re on camera

Suppliers of driver behaviour monitoring equipment are continuing to widen their product offer.

‘We recently added MiX Vision to our portfolio,’ says Joselowitz. ‘It’s an in-cab camera that integrates with our on-board computer system.’

In-vehicle cameras can be used to monitor the road ahead and the driver’s reactions to what is happening. The camera may be triggered to record what is going on if the driver suddenly brakes heavily, as if to avoid hitting something, or abruptly changes speed or direction.

The footage recorded can be used to help provide a defence against so-called ‘crashfor-cash’ frauds, where a vehicle deliberately swerves in front of an innocent driver, causing a collision. The vehicle’s occupants will then claim the smash was the innocent driver’s fault and demand compensation for their supposed injuries.

Again the insurers are well to the fore in advocating the use of cameras.

In the USA, ARI Insurance is offering to pay 50% of the monthly cost of using Lytx’s DriveCam safety management system. It gives drivers instant feedback on their performance and captures data on driver behaviour as well as video footage.

DriveCam users include the city of Mobile, Alabama’s vehicle fleet, which has seen a 62% decrease in incidents since initially deploying it in 2009.

‘We’ve significantly reduced risky driving behaviours such as distracted and drowsy driving as well as following too closely,’ says city safety manager, Gary Gamble. Compliance with its seatbelt and mobile phone usage policies has improved too.

‘DriveCam also allows us to protect and exonerate our drivers through the use of video,’ he adds. In other words, employees are less likely to be blamed for incidents that were clearly not their fault.

DriveCam can protect drivers in other ways says Lytx, citing as evidence the experience of B&L Yellow Cab of Broward County, Florida.

Having seen a >70% reduction in insurance claims after fitting DriveCam to 110 of its vehicles, Yellow Cab decided to roll it out to all 600.

‘Recently a driver who was being robbed was able to turn DriveCam on manually, creating video that helped law enforcement officers locate the suspect,’ says Yellow Cab president, John Camillo. ‘It’s a win-win for everyone involved,’ he adds; though presumably not for the alleged perpetrator.

Private function Despite the fact that some US states – Nevada for example – have made CCTV cameras in taxis compulsory, equipment that tracks vehicles and keeps drivers and passengers under observation can fall foul of national and local privacy legislation in other countries.

The state of New South Wales (NSW) in Australia for example has its own Workplace Surveillance Act.

‘Every employer in NSW needs to comply with laws restricting workplace surveillance,’ says Manly, NSW-based consultancy Salinger Privacy. ‘That’s the case whether you use email or Internet monitoring, CCTV cameras, GPS-enabled vehicles or any other type of camera, computer monitoring or location-tracking device.

‘Not getting the details right means you can’t use the results of any monitoring to investigate or discipline staff and your organisation may face fines.’

Getting it right in NSW means for example that if tracking equipment is to be installed in company vehicles then the drivers must be given 14 days notice in writing and a notice must be placed in the vehicle stating that equipment has been fitted.

Furthermore, it must be switched off by the employer if the employee has private use of the car or van concerned and it is being driven outside normal working hours.

Breaches of the law are prosecuted as criminal rather than civil offences.

Concern over the number of accidents involving fleet vehicles in Australia has prompted the Accident Research Centre at Melbourne’s Monash University to embark on a three-year research programme to determine which strategies are the most effective when it comes to creating a safe driving culture. It will examine 300 organisations in Victoria and NSW with fleets of different sizes and interview some 1,200 senior managers, fleet supervisors and drivers.

‘Many managers are unaware of the factors within their organisations that are likely to lead to reductions in work related road traffic injuries and deaths,’ says Dr Sharon Newnam, the study’s chief investigator.

Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of work-related deaths in Australia. Fleets that participate in the survey will be given access to its early findings, which they can then weave into their risk management plans.

Leave that phone alone

Legislation that penalises risky behaviour at the wheel has gone beyond cracking down on speeding and driving while intoxicated. It is now tackling areas that fleet risk managers need to address too, such as the use of handheld mobile phones while trying to control a vehicle.

In the Republic of Ireland the Garda Siochana (Police) has been cracking down on this practice following almost 10,000 drivers being discovered using their hand-helds during the first three months of this year.

The police action has occurred in advance of new, tougher, legislation being introduced which means that anyone caught sending SMS messages or otherwise employing their phones while driving will face a mandatory court summons and a maximum €1,000 fine on conviction for a first offence. This will rise to a maximum €2,000 for a second offence, increasing to a €2,000 fine plus a possible three-month jail sentence for three offences or more within a 12-month period.

‘The risk of being in a crash that causes injury is increased four-fold if a driver is on the phone,’ says general manager, Neil McDonnell. ‘We’re in full agreement with anything that improves road safety.’

Of equal concern to the law – and to responsible fleet risk managers – is anything that falls under the heading of distracted driving. That is anything that takes the driver’s attention away from the road.

A former sergeant in the Western Australia Police, Chris L’Ecluse, a master driver trainer with MiX Telematics North America, recalls seeing an insurance company representative driving at 70mph while using a laptop and intermittently sipping a cup of take-away coffee while chatting on a hand-held mobile. Clearly the individual concerned was not in proper control of the car.

‘Vehicle manufacturers are not helping much though,’ he muses. ‘They’re increasingly adding more distractions, from multiple cup-holders to multimedia systems with a plethora of buttons.’

He agrees that they are not deliberately trying to distract drivers; what they are simply doing is adding more features to their products in order to keep up with market demand and stay ahead of the competition.

‘But if manufacturers focused more on what is safe, rather than on what sells, then there would be fewer crashes,’ he contends.

Unfair, perhaps, given the number of safety features that are now being built into vehicles; but he may have a point.