IS YOUR FLEET FIT FOR THE LONG HAUL?

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1 IS YOUR FLEET FIT FOR THE LONG HAUL? After turning to a GPS tracking system, it is important to maintain the initial benefits, particularly when it comes to continuing the improved driving standards that the system encourages. Speeding, parking tickets, fuel wastage and customer complaints are all part of the burden that fleet operators have to bear. At the root of these is driver behaviour. Having overcome the traditional reticence from drivers to embrace what is wrongly considered to be a spy in the cab, there is usually a gradual acceptance of the business benefits that the system can achieve through changing driver behaviour; but maintaining that improvement can be as challenging as the initial transition.

2 There are several ways to encourage, monitor and sustain driver improvements over the long term. Driver Alerts Crucial to this on-going improvement can be the driver alert settings. Setting up alerts is critical for monitoring undesired driving behaviour and making improvements. By setting an alert, the user will be notified in real time when unwanted driving behaviour occurs, such as speeding, extended idling or entering areas they shouldn t be in. These alerts can be delivered to any number of recipients. In addition, alerts are stored in the reports tab for later reporting. Speeding Alerts Drivers that speed contribute to a variety of fleet management safety and cost concerns. High speed significantly increases the likelihood of accidents and increases the chance of injury and death in an accident. Excessive speeding violations can contribute to higher insurance premiums, loss of contracts and negative public perceptions about the business. High rates of speed also increase fuel consumption. Every 5 mph driven over 60 mph can be like paying an additional premium for fuel.

3 With Fleetmatics Speeding Alerts, you will be notified immediately if a driver exceeds a pre-set speed threshold. You can then take corrective action and change driver behaviour by encouraging safe and cost-effective driving speeds. Theses alerts can be pre-set to trigger a specific value above the speed limit. Driver ID Extracting the maximum return on investment from any GPS system comes from coaching the drivers, not the vehicles. But the problem can be keeping track of which driver is in which vehicle. The solution to this is the key fob ID solution. Each driver gets a unique key fob, required for each journey and a key reader is installed on the vehicle s dash along with the GPS tracking unit. When the vehicle is turned on, the driver presents the key fob into the key reader. In the event the key fob is not presented, an alarm will sound after one minute. The only way to disable the alarm is to present the key fob or turn off the vehicle. Shut down and start-ups of less than seven minutes will not require the key fob to be presented. The system has the ability to deliver any key report based on either the vehicle itself or the driver. Even if a driver changes vehicles multiple times in a day or week, the information is aggregated to give a clean, consistent view allowing confidence in managing the drivers. Scorecard There is no better encouragement for a driver than seeing how he compares against his workmates, and particularly if this is incentivised through some kind on bonus scheme or awards. Available from any Hyper-zoom icon, Driver Scorecards delivers a driver s ranking against his peers across key metrics such as speeding, fuel wastage, idle time and route optimisation. By using this snapshot fleet analytics reporting feature, it is easy to manage performance reviews and set goals based on the biggest opportunities for improvement in a driver s behaviour.

4 Driving Style Summary Report Another valuable tool is the Driving Style Summary Report. This report can track incidents of hard braking, hard acceleration and harsh corners, all categorised as either moderate or severe. Drivers put the company and their own safety on the line every time they slam the brakes, over accelerate, speed or take a corner too fast. Driving Style lets users measure, manage, and reduce aggressive driving either by vehicle or by specific drivers. Also, as an added bonus, many carriers now consider GPS systems as integral components of rate-reducing safety programs. Driving Style gives users a full picture of safety and risk by delivering real-time visibility into hard-braking, quick starts, and hard cornering to understand what behaviours need to improve. It allows managers to coach the team backed-up by real-time alerts and easy-to-see metrics that rank the best and worst drivers in each problem area. By utilising the system s proprietary safety score it is possible to compare drivers and set goals for improvement and company-wide standards. The safety score rates each driver on a scale of 0 to 100 based on driving habits, drive times, mileage and more to produce a single number you can rank and rely upon for safety management programs.

5 Live Map With Live Map, a user can view the location and status of every vehicle in a fleet, 24 hours a day, and seven days a week. It uses Google Maps API Premier, which updates automatically to provide up-to-the-minute vehicle positions as well as current traffic information. It s designed to help the user deploy vehicles more efficiently and ultimately improve fleet management strategies. Route Replay is another especially helpful feature of the GPS Tracking System. This detailed report also uses Google Maps API Premier to provide the ability to replay any journey, from start to finish, taken by any vehicle in a fleet, complete with minute-by-minute location and speed details. The route is displayed on a Google map with hybrid mapping and hyper-zoom features. You can document when the driver arrived for a pickup and exactly what time he dropped off. If a client complains that a vehicle was late that information can be researched. This protects the company, drivers and clients alike. In Summary Armed with all this information the operator can continue to maintain the driver performance levels that are crucial to increasing productivity and maintaining customer satisfaction, not just today but for many months and years

6 Find out how you can better manage your drivers behaviour by implementing the Fleetmatics GPS fleet tracking system. Book a free online demonstration today Copyright Fleetmatics IRL Limited All rights reserved. Fleetmatics is a registered trademark and the Fleetmatics logo is a trademark of Fleetmatics IRL Limited. Garmin is a trademark or registered trademark of Garmin Ltd.