Category: Driver Performance

Tips to Improve Driving Habits

Posted on | by Courtney redwell

Reduce Distraction, Be Proactive, Improve Driving

You should never stop improving driving skills. Many of us get over confident or too comfortable in our bad habits that we often forget simple defensive driving skills. Driving defensively is the best way to avoid traffic accidents and keep the roads a safer place.

Avoid Getting Distracted
Distracted drivers are 3 times more likely to be involved in an accident than attentive drivers (CAA Distracted Driving Statistics). Anything that takes your eyes off the road makes your reaction time much slower to the constantly changing road conditions. Cell phone use if a huge contributor, but this can be avoided easily with a Bluetooth device. Cell phone use may be the most commonly recognized form of distracted driving but anything from eating your lunch while driving to fiddling with the controls on your car can be just as distracting. Try your absolute best to avoid any distractions.

Be Proactive
A very common piece of driving advice is to not trust any other driver while on the road. This refers to never knowing what another driver may or may not do. We have all experienced those drivers who forget to turn off their turning signals or those aggressive drivers right on your bumper. Always remember, the only thing you are in control of is your own driving.

Try to look 10-15 seconds ahead of where you are going while constantly checking your rear-view mirrors to stay aware of your surroundings. Anticipate what the other drivers around you will be doing but also envision an escape route in case of an emergency situation. This will greatly increase your awareness.

Being proactive also means avoiding any situation that may increase the chance of a traffic accident. For example: sometimes you may be getting tailgated in the left lane on the highway even when going above the speed limit. As much as you may like to force that person to slow down by staying in front of them, it is most likely not worth the risk. By letting this person pass it leaves both drivers to continue on without conflict.

Smooth & Steady Driving Control
You want to make sure your control operation is done as smoothly as possible. Lightly applying pressure to your gas and brake pedal as opposed to having a lead foot will save you money on fuel and on vehicle wear. It will also give you the most control of your vehicle. This becomes even more important in bad weather conditions where hard braking or accelerating can force your vehicle into the wrong direction. It is also important to be as familiar with your vehicle and its safety features (ABS, traction control, 4WD, etc.) as possible. You want to know how your vehicle will react in all kinds of situations to avoid any surprises while driving.

How can GoFleet help?
GoFleet’s Geotab GO devices are designed to reduce driver interactions. Limiting notifications coming from the device to audible alerts allows the driver to get feedback on their driving while maintaining complete focus on the road. By using driver feedback with accelerometer data, Geotab is able to alert the driver when they exceed a certain amount of force.

Being a proactive driver continues when you are out of the vehicle. You can use GoFleet’s Geotab GO GPS Tracking Device to keep up with vehicle maintenance to ensure your vehicles are in top shape.

To learn more about GPS fleet tracking and how GoFleet can help you improve your driving habits and keep your fleet vehicles in top shape, contact one of our fleet consultants.

Source:

Original Author Piotr Zub in Geotab Blog:
http://www.geotab.com/blog/tips-improving-driving/

CAA Distracted Driving Statistics: http://distracteddriving.caa.ca/education/

Distracted Driving: Road Rage & Texting While Driving

Posted on | by Courtney redwell

Road Rage & Texting While Driving Result in Distracted Driving

Texting while driving has become a rising concern across North America. The Province of Ontario in Canada has implemented increased fines, and in the USA President Barack Obama has signed an executive order formally forbidding federal workers from texting while driving government vehicles. However, the road has been a dangerous place way before cell phones/smart phones were introduced, and road rage is still a major ongoing issue.

What’s Causing Distracted Driving?
Leasetrader.com conducted a survey including over 3,000 American drivers in order to determine the most dangerous distractions during driving. 18.3% of men agreed that the most dangerous distraction today is road rage, followed by eating/drinking (14.7%), checking out other drivers (10.9%) and other passenger conversations (9.5%). The women involved in the survey had different opinions. They ranked the primary distraction in driving to be kids in the car (26.3%), putting on makeup was the second highest ranked (16.6%), and navigation (9.5%), all above texting.

What exactly is Road Rage?
It is important to have a strong understanding of aggressive driving and road rage in order to execute fleet management policies focused on this topic. The AAA Foundation defines road rage as “violent anger caused by the frustration and stress involved in driving a motor vehicle – a motorist’s uncontrolled anger that is usually provoked by another motorist’s irritating act is expressed in aggressive or violent behaviors with an intention to cause physical harm.”

Frequent characteristics of an aggressive driver include:

  • High-risk drivers, more likely to speed, drink and drive, or drive without a seatbelt
  • Drivers with high levels of frustration and low to no concern for others on the road
  • Motorists who disobey red lights, run stop signs, tailgate, speed, weave in and out of traffic, honk their horns, make facial or hand gestures, make unsafe lane changes

What Causes Road Rage?
As a motorist, you may have driving habits that are linked to other motorists’ aggressive driving. According to the 2014 Road Rage Report by NorthStar for Expedia, texting has surpassed tailgating in terms of behaviour that provoke the most anger in other drivers. Almost 7 of 10 American drivers surveyed agreed, ‘The Texter’ is viewed as the most aggravating driving behaviour, followed by ‘The Tailgater’ (60%), ‘The Multi-Tasker’ (54%), ‘The Drifter’ (43%) and ‘The Crawler’ (39%).

How to Avoid Road Rage:

  • Avoid communication with an aggressive driver
  • Do not engage with an aggressively acting motorist; do not respond with further negative behavior which may escalate the situation
  • Drive responsibly, steer clear of aggravating driving behaviour
  • Follow traffic laws including not texting while driving
  • Report unsafe motorists to authorities when necessary

Along with a fleet safety policy, GoFleet’s sophisticated GPS fleet management system can help organizations develop company-wide management polices to enhance driver safety, improve driver behavior, and increase on-road productivity. GoFleet’s Geotab GO GPS tracking device offers reporting and driver notification on harsh braking, acceleration, and cornering, as well as if seatbelts are being worn and speeding above posted road speeds.

We are not simply a GPS fleet tracking company, we offer a fleet management solution. Contact GoFleet to learn more about how you can help your drivers avoid road rage, schedule an online demo, or get a copy of our fleet safety policy.

 

Original Article From Geotab:
http://www.geotab.com/blog/distracted-drivers-road-rage-texting-driving/

 

Driver Safety Management With Our GPS Tracking Software

Posted on | by Courtney redwell

GPS Tracking Software Manages Driver Safety

Attempting to interpret and understand accelerometer data can be complicated, as users will oftentimes need to sift through a large number of various vehicle insights. To make things easier, GoFleet in partner with Geotab has decided to take a sophisticated formula and transform it into a variety of safety rules that are easy to understand, use and apply.

Within the safety section of our GPS tracking software, the user needs to simply turn on the rules that are most relevant to company goals and select the corresponding vehicle set. From there, the software will automatically begin populating the unsafe driving data into reports that clearly illustrate the driving events.

It is vital to have a well thought out procedure in place that is communicated across different departments. This includes educating your HR professionals on your goals, and how you plan to put the data into action. Inform others on how your next action steps will look by outlining a communications plan for interacting with your drivers and team members. It’s what you do with the information (data) that counts, that is what ultimately helps improve driver behavior.

To become totally transparent in your communications it is recommended to also include your drivers. Our fleet GPS tracking software comes with a built-in driver feedback “beeping” feature. Fleet managers can turn the “beeping” sound on so as to assist drivers in modifying their behavior in real-time. The instant “beeping” of the audible alerts will inform the driver of when they are actually breaking a rule, or even about to break a rule. The fleet management software truly can assist with providing drivers with immediate safe driving insight, helping to avoid repeating the same behavior in the future.

Contact GoFleet for more information on our GPS tracking software and how our safety features can help better manage your fleet.

5 Simple Ways To Improve Your Driving

Posted on | by Courtney redwell

Improve Your Driving With These Easy Tips

  1. Find the busy roads, and avoid them: Save time and gas by running a Trip History report on MyGeotab for your commute over the course of a few days, modifying your route each day, and finding which takes the least amount of time. As a bonus, you can run a Fuel Usage report to see the average fuel used and fuel economy used during these trips, and see which is the most economical and environmentally friendly route. Use technology to make the most out of your time and make your day as productive as possible.
  2. Lighten your lead foot: By speeding, you’re not only making it unsafe for others, but you’re also consuming much more fuel than necessary. Set up a Rule in MyGeotab to beep your GO7 device when you exceed 6mph/10km over the speed limit. Later, run an Exceptions report with the created rule. You may be surprised at how many times you go over the speed limit unintentionally in your daily commute.
  3. Find where you have parked: Whether you have parked on the outskirts of the mall parking lot, or on the other side of town, simply fire up MyGeotab on your phone’s browser, and tap “Maps” and filter for your car. Wherever you last parked will be the shown location of your car on MyGeotab map. As a bonus, it will also tell you how long you have been shopping at the mall (unfortunately it can’t tell you how much lighter your wallet is).
  4. Keep your car in tip top shape: Since the GO6 device plugs directly into the OBDII diagnostic port, setup a rule in MyGeotab to alert you whenever the engine light comes on. When it does, you can easily run an Exceptions report, and see which part of your car made the light turn on. As a bonus, set up a maintenance reminder in MyGeotab to remind you of your next appointment for a service, either by specific date or odometer reading.
  5. Set geo-reminders: Using Rules and Zones in MyGeotab, create a zone around a place, and set it to automatically send an email to your smartphone (or send a Garmin message if you are using a Garmin device with the Geotab GO6). For example, when you are driving past your local coffee shop on your way to work, setup a rule when entering a zone around it to send a message to remind you to bring in coffee for all your co-workers (bonus if you bring in donuts too).

For more information on how technology and GPS tracking can help improve your daily on-road activities, please contact GoFleet.

 

Original Article From Geotab: 5 Ways To Improve Your Driving

 

Not Taking Action Puts Your Company at Risk

Posted on | by Courtney redwell

Improve Driver Safety With Telematics

Many fleet managers put off implementing telematics to improve driver safety because they fear they will become aware of something that until now they did not have to subsequently manage. If you are in this situation ask yourself, what do you think is riskier? Not knowing if safety training is needed for your drivers OR knowing that there are drivers who require safety training and focusing attention on how to help them by developing a policy and various procedures?

To put this simply, the cost of not knowing far outweighs the cost of measuring and managing safety using an affordable telematics solution. Plus, not only will telematics help with driver safety, it will also help save money on fuel, allow for better route management, maintenance reminders and more.

If protecting your employees isn’t incentive enough, the courts are awarding increasingly large punitive settlements against companies that do not apply what is considered to be predominantly accessible technology.

In 2012, the court awarded $22 million to a plaintiff where the fleet failed to reinforce its non-use of cell phone policy. The court found the fleet at fault for failing to enforce a common and practical cell phone policy for improving driver safety. In New York State, backup camera use by trucks was mandated after a fatality, in addition to the use of external alarms of reversing trucks in Illinois. Not having equipment installed costs companies far more than the cost of the technology itself. The same case can be made for not applying practical and common tools to monitor and enforce safe driving. It is better to measure – in order to understand, develop a policy, and reinforce that policy than it is to ignore the risk of unsafe drivers in the first place.

With a massive payback by managing safety, fuel, and maintenance, it is surprising that not every fleet is already fully equipped with telematics. So the question becomes: will a court find that telematics technology is ubiquitous enough with 40% of fleets installed in North America, to find a fleet negligent if it is not measuring and ultimately managing safe driving?

To learn more about how GoFleet can help you run a safer fleet with our GPS Tracker Audible Coaching call 1-888-998-1122 or email [email protected].

guide to increasing driver productivity

Increase Driver Productivity with GPS Tracking

Posted on | by Victoria Gole | Leave a Comment on Increase Driver Productivity with GPS Tracking

GPS Tracking will increase Driver Productivity

For those who run a business that relies on travel to customers to propagate your services, vehicle GPS systems are the productivity tool that now makes announcing services calls, required stops and everything else that can be transmitted to your fleet vehicles. Now more than ever, new and existing business are counting on the tracking technology of GPS systems, wired on-board their vehicles, to push for quicker services. Aside from speed, the below outline some other tactical reasons businesses should push for GPS systems in their fleets.

Automate Maintenance

Maintenance can slow down business, especially if you let your simplistic oil changes and tire rotations get out of hand. With a GPS unit, you will automatically be prompted when scheduled maintenance is due; from there, you can seamlessly fit your down time into a schedule, reset the GPS for a specific mileage reminder, and continue on with business.

Saves Repetitive Office Trips

Instead of wasting gasoline on driving back and forth to the office to get assignments, GPS units will receive data sent from a computer’s data entry system (order or call system) and immediately display where the worker is to go next. This cuts down on overspending of gas, paying for employee downtime, and increases productivity for the business involved.

Increase Responses

Some situations require immediate customer attention – such as a broke down heater in winter months, needing towed out of a ditch, or even data loss at a business. With advanced GPS tracking, you can route a service technician immediately to needed areas, allowing the problem to get solved. This increase in response time will not only build good customer rapport, but generate leads via word of mouth.

Insurance Premiums Lowered

Businesses will do anything to save a few bucks; since fleet insurance is already outrageous, you can lower the premiums by having this GPS unit, which can also act as a theft deterrent, emergency services location device, lowering your deductibles and overall yearly insurance rates. Businesses are huge fans of these devices for this reason, although as secondary perk.

With these benefits and so many more, businesses of any size cannot afford to do without a GPS unit in their fleet vehicles. Too many things can go wrong while you’re dispatching workers to various locations; don’t take any chances and begin to reap the benefits of GPS locator units placed in each of your fleet vehicles today.