Top 5 Safety Tools For Fleets Operators and Drivers

Safety becomes the primary concern for fleet-operating businesses involving multiple trucks and different drivers. Any accident or violation can cause damage to the vehicle, driver injury, delivery delays, costly repairs, and possible legal hassles. It may significantly impact the productivity and cost-efficiency of your business operations.

Fleet operators and drivers always look for reliable solutions in the form of efficient tools and techniques that facilitate safety and security. As an owner-operator, now you can have aids available that can keep your fleet operations safe, reliable, and efficient. 

This article helps fleet owners get a brief overview of the top 5 safety tools and how they benefit them and truck drivers.

Parameters of Fleet Safety

The primary objective of fleet business owners is to make the process smoother and more streamlined and achieve greater efficiency and productivity while ensuring safety. You must set some parameters to guide informed decisions based on updated and accurate information. These parameters are as follows: 

Safe Driving Behavior: Your drivers may demonstrate risky driving behavior, deviate from a predefined route, or be involved in traffic violations during driving. Your objective is to monitor and control drivers’ performance and reduce the chances of accidents.

Real-time Tracking: A vehicle may get involved in an accident, and you must take prompt action to ensure your driver is safe. Keeping track of the vehicle’s status is crucial to make timely decisions in unexpected situations. In case of any emergency, you can provide immediate assistance by tracking the location. 

Maintenance Needs: An automobile in good working condition with fewer technical issues automatically reduces the chances of failures and the possibility of accidents. You and your drivers must remain updated about any potential problems and maintenance needs of the vehicle. A track record of truck performance, the nature of faults, and required servicing criteria are critical parameters to ensure safe operations.

Resource Utilization: As a fleet business owner and operator, your objective should be effectively using your workforce. Your drivers must be trained, efficient, and committed to following rules and regulations. You should also ensure your drivers are not affected by fatigue or overwork so that you can reduce the chances of accidents or other dangerous consequences.

Driver Feedback: You may look for some advanced system that sends an in-vehicle notification to a driver when a risky driving habit is detected. The AI-based system analyzes and predicts the risk and alerts drivers to act and potentially avoid an accident.

Safety Tools for Fleets Operators and Drivers

Safety is the primary concern for fleets of all types and sizes. You should invest in technical tools as a long-term solution that ensures increased security, fewer accidents, reduced potential liabilities, and low operational costs. You need to focus on implementing solutions and effectively use the following tools to take your fleet management and operations to a level where safety is assured.

GPS Trackers

GPS (Global Positioning System) technology collects and processes data in real-time, allowing managers to analyze the information to make suitable and timely decisions. 

GPS tracking system requires fixing a device in the vehicle which tracks data inputs from several sources using a cloud-based platform and provides fleet managers with real-time location and movement information. This data is accessible remotely through electronic devices. 

The GPS trackers have numerous advantages that you can successfully utilize in your fleet operations to facilitate safety. The tracking system can deliver the following solutions:

Reduce risks: GPS trackers can assess potential hazards like traffic congestions, road blockages, or adverse weather conditions and guide drivers to follow the most optimized route avoiding any risks. 

You can track your fleets’ status and routes in real-time, enabling you to make quick decisions as necessary. GPS tracker coordinates and detects other trucks’ positions and guides drivers to alter the speed to avoid collisions and accidents. 

Protect the vehicle from theft: A GPS tracker fixed in the truck reduces the chances of theft as one can easily track and recover the location. In this way, it enables you to protect your valuable assets during everyday operations. 

GPS trackers notify you in case of any unusual movement of trucks beyond the specified zone so that you take prompt action accordingly. 

Improve driving standard: Most GPS trackers have built-in sensors that identify risky and unsafe driving behavior, such as harsh braking, over-speeding, sharp turning, lane deviations, etc. 

You can guide drivers accordingly to follow safe driving practices and avoid potential accident risks, improving vehicle and driver safety.

Save the life of drivers: GPS trackers activate the collision alert to notify fleet managers about the event and arrange necessary assistance and medical aid to reach the location of the accident within a short time. 

The drivers also can communicate with the rescue team through the GPS-based tracking system for immediate response and support. You can be sure that a GPS tracker can save the life of a driver in many dangerous situations.

Dashboard Cameras

Dashboard cameras, popularly known as dashcams, are efficient safety tools for commercial fleets. These cameras let you know the activities happening around the truck in real-time. The dashcams enhance the visibility and alertness of drivers in potentially dangerous situations. These cameras also provide substantial feedback to rectify unsafe driving patterns. 

Dashcams capture road conditions, incidents, and driving behavior in real-time, providing the footage for review and taking suitable actions. These surveillance cameras mounted on the truck continuously record footage and save the same for immediate or future reference. 

The various applications of dashcams as fleet safety tools are as follows: 

Better Driving Pattern: Dashcams provide fleet managers with clear visibility into distracted driving, traffic violations, and wasteful practices during vehicle operations. 

The video recordings allow you to communicate with drivers with clear evidence and guide them to control their performance towards ensuring safety and avoiding potential accident risks. The presence of dashcams enhances drivers’ accountability to follow traffic rules and avoid harsh driving behavior to ensure safety. 

Reduce Damage and Accidents: Modern AI-based Dashcams can generate alerts to warn drivers in case of lane diversion or when they get too close to a vehicle in front. These features minimize the chances of accidents. 

Dashcams also warn drivers if it captures any unsafe behavior so that drivers can immediately control their driving pattern. 

Protect Vehicle in Parking Mode: Dashcam can monitor your truck in parking condition, which is a reliable solution to protect the vehicle as the camera records any event when the automobile is not in motion. 

A dash cam with parking mode starts recording as soon as it detects a motion or impact. This footage provides details of incidents around the truck when it is parked, such as someone trying to damage or break into it.

Electronic Logging Device

An electronic Logging Device (ELD) is a tool that has become an essential part of commercial fleet management. It records the Hours of Service of drivers considering the mandatory resting time to avoid driver fatigue and stress during duty. This process helps to ensure safety by reducing the chances of risky driving conditions. 

The ELD has features and capabilities to support fleet businesses to remain resourceful, efficient, and compliant. The various benefits of ELDs as achieved by fleet business owners are as follows:

Real-time Location Update: The ELD is a GPS-enabled device that tracks road conditions, traffic congestion, and time factors to help fleet managers make prompt and actionable decisions.

Accurate Reporting: The ELD processes data related to HoS, engine diagnostics, and driving performance. It provides accurate reports that are crucial documents to comply with safety standards.

Route Planning: ELD tracks the predefined routes and sends notifications in case of any deviation. The real-time information lets you control the truck’s movements, considering the safety parameters.

Monitor Driving Behavior: ELDs are advanced devices that monitor the speed limit, harsh braking, or crossing predefined boundaries. This information facilitates managers in controlling inefficient and risky driving behaviors.

Vehicle Diagnostics: The ELD connected to the engine’s diagnostic port collects engine performance data and reports possible technical issues. You can take prompt actions to minimize the chances of unexpected faults or risky operations. 

Driver Scorecards

As a business owner or operator, you require regular driving behavior and performance monitoring, which directly impacts road safety. Driver scorecards have become a significant and vital tool for assessing risky driving behaviors. It has the following features:

• It evaluates performance based on various driving metrics analyzed via software systems. 
• The scorecard reflects the driver’s score depending on safe practices and driving patterns.
• It is a motivational tool to encourage road safety and ideal driving practices.

Electronic Stability Control

Electronic stability control advanced system enables the driver to manage unexpected events or accidents when driving on wet or slippery roadways by controlling vehicle movement. The features of this system include the following:

• The system automatically reduces engine power. 
• It applies brakes automatically to each wheel.
• It corrects tire suspension much faster to reduce the vehicle’s speed. 

Safety Solutions by Matrack

Matrack is a leading service provider of technology tools with advanced features that can be integrated into a comprehensive fleet management system to facilitate safety, efficiency, and reliability. 

The Matrack fleet management system is one of the best solutions that provide many significant features at an affordable cost. The tools and techniques are compatible with IOS and Android platforms through user-friendly apps. 

Matrack offers an efficient, easy-to-use, and robust platform to monitor vehicles and ensure safety. It updates fleet operators and drivers with accurate, real-time information that helps make actionable decisions to reduce risks, enhance driving standards, and protect vehicles from undue damage and losses. Matrack offers the following tools that keep trucks and drivers safe. 

Matrack GPS Tracking

The Matrack GPS tracking system increases fleet visibility and allows you to monitor activities in real-time and stay updated with accurate information to reduce costs, improve safety, and increase accountability. It pinpoints the vehicles’ position in real-time and optimizes your fleet operations while considering safety. 

By monitoring and coaching driver behavior, you can facilitate safety, mitigate risk, and reduce involvement in severe incidents. GPS trackers help in vehicle diagnostics to arrange preventative maintenance schedules and minimize faults.

Matrack Dashcam

Matrack Dashcam is one of the best tools to keep your fleet safe and productive. It has dual-facing cameras that give a complete front and rear view and alert drivers in potentially dangerous situations. 

The audio alerts notify the driver of distracted driving, lane deviations, and when there is a possible risk ahead of a collision. 

The AI-enabled sensor detects potential danger and immediately alerts drivers to practice safe driving and proactively avoid accidents. It uploads video footage of an event that provides a valuable visual reference to deal with dangerous situations. 

Matrack ELD

It is one of the best ELDs in the market, perfect for large commercial vehicle operations. The ELD works through user-friendly app support that provides all information via your smartphone. 

The Matrack ELD helps you to remain safety compliant with the aid of timely reports and logs. It ensures that drivers are not overworked and efficiently performing, eliminating any possibility of risky or unsafe actions.

Conclusion

Advanced technology allows for making fleet operations safer and more reliable. The vehicle GPS tracking, multi-channel cameras, and real-time alerts allow you to improve driver and vehicle performance, leading to safer and more efficient operations.

Through this article, we have provided an overview of technology tools that facilitate the safety of drivers and guide fleet operators with real-time information and alerts. It would help control vehicle movements and driving performance toward safety.

We aim to provide inputs about tools and techniques to guide you in making informed decisions to boost fleet safety.