Dashcam Catches Flying Car

Upper Deck Parking

Car jumps median, caught on dashcam
“Recreational marijuana slows response time and will lead to increased accidents.”

Dashcam Catches A Car Crash Into the Second Story of a California Building

Source: Time.com

A dashcam caught a car traveling at a high rate of speed crashing into the second story of a dental office. The car hit the median at a which acted as a ramp, launching the car into the second story office. The passengers were relatively unharmed and one person was able to escape from the vehicle before fire rescue arrived.

The passengers admitted to being literally high on narcotics. Cameras are about the only defense a fleet operator has to combat a wild story such as this. The Fleetistics GPS tracking system, includes telematics and HOS but can also be integrated with in vehicle camera systems to capture exact information during an accident.

GPS tracking is great but there are behaviors and situations that a dashcam can prove invaluable. When it comes to proving your innocence, there is nothing like having video. The flip side is, video can be subpoenaed and quickly be used against you. If your company is focused on fleet safety, a dash camera system is a good investment.

Geotab Fuel Tracking Application

Lower Fuel Expenses with Oversight

Fuel consumption is a significant variable when considering your rolling cost per mile which ties directly to profitability. Your two most expensive resources are unsupervised 90% of the time and they are your employees and vehicles. The GO GPS tracker does a great job at managing the vehicle and how it is used but a missing variable is fuel consumption. With the free Geotab fuel tracking app, drivers can log all fuel purchases for review in one central location. Because the GPS data is captured all the time the fuel data can now be tied to the GPS data. This gives you more oversight than doing expense reports but less oversight than using a Fleetistics fuel card.

Available in Android and iOS.

 

Click to View Geotab Fuel Tracking Application

Geotab Fuel Tracking Application is Mobile Friendly

Geotab Fuel Tracking Application
Fuel Usage Graph

GPS Tracking Educational Webinar

Education is Key

GPS Tracking Educational Webinar

GPS Tracking Educational Webinar

Many fleet owners understand there is value in GPS vehicle and asset tracking technology but they don’t know where to begin or understand the overall technology. By not knowing what to ask or look for a fleet manager is subject to a sales person’s perspective, option, guidance or twist on a solution to stated fleet problems. Our GPS Tracking Educational Webinar prepares you to make a better decision.

We’ve all heard education is power but it is also money. If you are not educated and make a bad in investment, it will cost you or your company money. As in most industries and situations, there may be 3-4 ways to resolve an issue with a technology solution. In every industry there is low end, low-cost solutions all the way to expensive and complete solutions. Knowing what you need, understanding the technology and being clear on a process will ensure you get the right solution for the lowest investment.

Company Vehicle Abuse

company vehicle abuse

Company Vehicle Abuse Increases Risk & Expenses

Some things never change. One of the most basic applications of GPS tracking technology is stopping company vehicle abuse. Abuse comes in many forms but it always increases the fleet operator’s risk, liability and expenses. Over the years we have seen and heard many stories about company vehicle abuse.

Boat ramps are a great place to spot misuse of a company vehicle. Few employees seem to understand the risk and costs to an employer of hauling a boat, launching a boat and the added the wear and tear resulting from towing a boat. Don’t forget the immediate hard cost of fuel being consumed at twice the normal rate to go from home, to the boat storage facility, to the ramp and back. At a minimum half a tank of gas worth $20 is what was just stolen. YouTube has many examples of vehicles slipping into the water when trying to launch or recover a boat.

 

One employer related a story from the meeting he held to introduce his new tracking system to his employees. One of them actually asked, “Now how am I supposed to get my boat to the water?” Yes, it is that common.

 

One of the worst examples of employee vehicle abuse is when an employee with a landscaping company was driving his company vehicle from Ft. Meyers to Ft. Lauderdale (150 miles one-way) to play golf. The employer naively allowed drivers to use the honor system to report personal miles vs company miles for payroll and tax deductions. Strangely enough the driver failed to report this Sunday routine for several weeks. Even with a GPS tracking unit on his vehicle he continued to steal from his employer until he was caught.

 

Another common form of vehicle abuse is hard driving behaviors. Hard acceleration, harsh braking, and hard turns all cause excessive fuel consumption, excessive wear and tear, and put that driver at risk for collision. Unfortunately this costs you 3 ways, fuel, repairs, and liability.

 

Abuse is one behavior that can be prevented immediately with a vehicle tracking system. Speeding, after hours use, personal travel, towing, etc. are all behaviors easily identified through maps, alerts and reports. Almost any GPS system designed for vehicle tracking can provide this information. Asset trackers which provide less data may not give you the resolution needed to quickly address unwanted abuse.

Boat Ramp Failure

Vision Zero and How Telematics Can Help You Get There

Vision Zero and Telematics

Contributed by Kim Thoman

In this segment we will discuss Vision Zero and how sophisticated and affordable telematics solutions can help you reach your goals. First it is important to understand what Vision Zero means and how it works.

Vision Zero is a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all. First implemented in Sweden in the 1990’s, Vision Zero has proved successful across Europe. It was officially introduced in North America 1995 and is quickly being adopted across many cities in the United States. Among these cities are Seattle, NYC, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Boston and many more. Even closer to home Orlando, Tampa and Hillsborough are implementing Vision Zero goals.

Where to Start

The question is what tools are needed analyze the data involved with traffic fatalities. Information that is important to study is traffic patterns, traffic light coordination and timing, occurrence of collisions and the ability to highlight hazardous intersections to name a few. NYC’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS), for example, adopted telematics to encourage safe driver behavior in its very large municipal fleet.

In an effort to make change DCAS uses collision reporting data to better understand the occurrence of collisions. This allows them to better modify safety training, evaluate roadway conditions and assess the efficiency of street improvements and projects for all road users. Another benefit of telematics for DCAS is the reduction of costly lawsuits and process that consume valuable resources.

Vision Zero Results

NYC’s Department of Transportation (DOT) also implemented the same telematics solution in the agency’s 35,000 fleet vehicles to analyze the speed within the fleet and the quality of pavement. In NYC, telematics has contributed to a reduction in fatalities two in 2018 compared to eight in 2014 as employees engage in safer driving behavior.

We live in an era of Big Data. Telematics can optimize smart transportation. Aggregate data allows cities to closely monitor traffic flows, understand the effects of new projects and speed reduction programs as well as assess the efficiency of traffic signals, map air quality and highlight hazardous intersections. These are all tools to better manage the city’s transportation system as a whole.

Vision Zero

More Benefits With Less Effort

By combining air quality sensors with telematics solutions, city vehicles have the ability to measure air pollution without changing their regular routes, according to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Air pollution data is collected by stationary air quality monitors placed miles apart. This has been proven not to be the best solution as studies have shown that air pollution levels can vary greatly from one block to another.

By installing mobile monitors on fleet vehicles could allow a city to cover more ground. According to the report, a fleet in a small or medium North American city could map 50% or more of the city with 10 vehicles, and almost 80% of the city with 20 vehicles. In Washington, D.C., where only five stationary air pollution monitors are installed throughout the city, the top 20 public vehicles covered nearly 70% of the city in six months.

The Future of Vision Zero and Telematics

Vision Zero is not a slogan, not a tagline, not even just a program. It is a fundamentally different way to approach traffic safety. That being said, implementing a successfully proven telematics solution is an invaluable tool to help cities across North American reach these powerful safety goals.

Contact Fleetistics today for a consultation.