The bottom line equates to measuring driver safety

Every driver has a responsibility to drive safely, but we all have distractions. This can range from the anxiety of a new driver, a soccer mom balancing a hectic work and home life, or a delivery driver who needs to get to their next delivery quickly. Everyone needs to manage these aspects of their lives and jobs while maintaining safe driving habits. Fleet and logistics managers are constantly dealing with these concerns because driver safety impacts their bottom line as much as efficiency.

These days, the most profitable companies are turning to data collected from their fleet to help improve safety measures and improve profitability. This can be done in many ways, but here are some of the most successful:

Electronically logging Hours of Service to prevent driver fatigue. With telematics connected to an Electronic Logging Device (ELD), you gain the ability to view odometer tracking & speed readings from the vehicle’s engine. When driving, ELD automatically changes and logs the status from “on duty” to “driving.” Simply put, the electronic logging of hours provides managers with verification of delivery & management of both safety and efficiency from individual drivers to the overall fleet.

• Easy access to necessary information via mobile applications. Allowing drivers to have direct access to resources that are typically only available to managers provides the people in the field with vital information about changes and helps them to avoid unforeseen issues. Drivers can view changes to their routes, vehicle status, and their availability in the future.
• Using telematics wisely. Telematics is most powerful when you combine it with dispatching and routing technology. By doing this, you gain the ability to evaluate a driver’s adherence to the planned route and rate their overall performance. These performance metrics can help fleet managers determine if adjustments need to be made to the routes to improve effectiveness. This also allows you to manage driver behavior and overall productivity.

However you decide to measure driver safety remember there are tools available to make this process more accurate & efficient. Ensuring you are compliant with driver hours and adhering to both safety and route plans in critical to the health of your business. Today there are solutions that can address each of these areas not leaving the success and well-being of your business to chance.