Vehicle Cameras for Fleet Management

by | Sep 11, 2023 | DashCams, Fleet Management, GPS Tracking, Risk and Safety

Vehicle cameras are becoming more popular as a fleet management tool.

Vehicle cameras are becoming more popular as a fleet management tool.

As with any new tool, it takes time to understand the best ways to leverage camera use on your fleet vehicles. When selecting and setting up your vehicle camera system, managing consumption to avoid data overage needs to be considered. Ask yourself some questions when you begin.

What information will be most beneficial to you in video format?

How do you plan to use it?

Who will be responsible for reviewing it?

There are several different types of camera systems, designed for different purposes, and it is important to select the system that will record and deliver the specific type of video record you need. No longer are dashcams just a risk management measure to have a record in case of an accident. Forward-facing dashcams monitor the road and potential hazards in front of the vehicle. They can stand alone or be used with peripheral cameras.

Vehicle Cameras - CrewChief T2 Dashcam For Fleets

Some systems also have an interior view of the cab to record what the driver is doing. Adding side, rear, and cargo area cameras can provide valuable information as well as security. Full-featured camera systems integrate with the Geotab tracking platform for even more functionality.

 

Automatic Event Recording

Vehicle cameras designed to record events are primarily used to document the conditions an event occurs. Events may be predefined by the camera system or you can define them yourself when integrated with your vehicle tracking system. Being selective about how many of your rules generate email notifications helps to limit unnecessary email overload. In the same way, be selective about the rules you choose to trigger video downloads to avoid data overage.

Speeding is a common rule that you may want to trigger a video download, but if you have several speed rules, choose carefully the one that triggers the video. A rule like 5 mph over the posted speed limit can trigger often and use up your data plan in a hurry.

Cameras with AI

Some vehicle camera systems use artificial intelligence to identify events. They can identify speeding, lane drift, following too closely, even road obstructions. Combined with a smartphone app, these systems give feedback to the driver to avoid potential hazards. With an in-cab view, cameras with AI can also identify and record cell phone use and smoking events.

Dv6 Dashcam from Rosco - Advanced Dashcam Technology

You can see examples of video from a variety of cameras as well as installation tips on our YouTube channel.

Live Feed

Certain business models such as the Security Industry may benefit from live feed capability from vehicle cameras. Supervisors can view live video to consult with and advise the field employee. Managers can view job site progress and several jobs without leaving the office. Live feeds need to be used responsibly. If you forget to turn off the feed and leave for lunch, extreme data overage is the likely result.

Monitor your Data Consumption

If your system offers a feature to monitor how much data you have used, check weekly to see that you are within your data plan limits. Becoming familiar with how much data you are using will allow you to get the most out of your vehicle camera system without incurring costly overages.

 

data consumption

 

Geotab Personal Mode

by | Aug 30, 2023 | Geotab, GPS Tracking

Geotab Personal Mode Adds Flexibility

 

Geotab has created a personal mode that allows drivers and fleet managers to temporarily hide their vehicle tracking in the Geotab application. When personal mode is used, location, speed, and engine data will not be visible. The driving data will still be collected while in personal mode, however, it will be stored as private.

The purpose of personal mode is for companies to temporarily not track drivers that use their personal vehicles for work, or in some cases take company vehicles home after working hours. This feature can be set to automatically turn on when work hours are finished (for example 5 pm to 8 am) or when a vehicle enters a specific zone.

This is a great feature for companies that will let their employees use company-owned vehicles for personal use. Geotab personal mode can also be used when operating in sensitive areas to hide vehicle movement.

 

Geotab Personal Mode

 

The personal mode feature is downloaded through the Marketplace inside of the Geotab application. Once it is downloaded, it can be configured so that privacy mode will turn on automatically or it can be left alone so that drivers can turn it on and off themselves.

For a driver to enable privacy mode, they need to install the Geotab Drive app on their phone or smart device. A member of the admin team will also need to create the driver in the database and set them up with a password so that they can log into the Drive app.

If your company is using E-Logs/HOS, you do not want to download the Geotab Personal Mode Add-In as it will affect your duty status logs and you may no longer be in compliance per the FMCSA.

Vehicle & Asset Telematics

Electronic Forms

Mobile Viewing

Routing

GEotab GO9 GPS Vehicle Tracking
Fleet Management Platform
Mobile Phone GPS Tracking App
Route4Me Optimization
Vehicle & Asset Telematics

GEotab GO9 GPS Vehicle Tracking
Electronic Forms

Fleet Management Platform
Mobile Viewing

Mobile Phone GPS Tracking App
Routing

Route4Me Optimization

Gridlock – Successfully Beating Congested Road Conditions

by | Aug 25, 2023 | Fleet Management, Geotab, Risk and Safety

Gridlock is Slowing Us Down

Road conditions and traffic congestion or gridlock are a major factor that affects punctuality, productivity, and safety. Unfortunately, driving in less than ideal road conditions, and stopping to wait in gridlock is something we must live with. In any case, awareness helps us to avoid some of the worst situations and better cope with the rest.

Can We Eliminate Gridlock?

We all encounter it and we all hate it, but can anything be done about it? Texas A&M recently released its annual Urban Mobility Report. It explains some of the WHY and offers a long list of potential remedies to avoid gridlock. It is clear there is no one solution, but many small things that can be done to impact this problem plaguing metropolitan commuters and fleets.

What are some things a business can do? Both small and large businesses can use remote workers where practical. Another idea is to schedule services for off-peak travel hours by offering incentives to customers for scheduling their service in those off-peak hours. These simple measures are just starting points. The Big Data that is available through the efforts of companies like Geotab, can be used to better understand and prevent the ongoing gridlock in the US.

Gridlock

 

 

Road conditions - pothole

Road Condition in the US

According to The Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report, pavement condition in the US has continued to decline over the years. Some states do better than others when it comes to filling potholes and repairing deficient bridges. It is interesting that the dollars we spend on construction projects to improve road conditions do not always correlate to the percentages of improvement achieved.

Heavy Duty Trucking, commenting on the report, posted, â??The percentage of urban interstate mileage in poor condition increased in 29 states with one-third of the nation’s urban interstate mileage in poor condition being concentrated in just five states: California, Delaware, Hawaii, Louisiana, and New York.â? â??Massachusetts ranks low in the overall rankings but shows the nation’s lowest traffic fatality rate, while South Carolina reports the highest.â?

 

Highway Safety

Safety awareness and training are key to every driver coming back safe every day.

There is a wealth of information available on highway safety in the US. This information is provided by safety experts, insurance organizations, and fleet technology providers. Understanding the safest and most dangerous places along your routes can save lives. Here are a few resources you may find helpful.

Bad Weather = Poor driving conditions creating gridlock.

Snow and ice create a dangerous combination. They cause accidents and endless gridlock. Knowing when to avoid dangerous weather saves time, lives, and expensive commercial vehicles. You can add forecast weather service to your GPS tracking easily. MyFleetView allows you a 30 day trial of our weather services. The map displays where your vehicles are in relation to the weather conditions and weather related roadway threats you select. See how below.

Weather - Watches and Warnings

Weather – Watches and Warnings

Northeast Roadway Threats Overlaid on Watches and Warnings

Northeast Roadway Threats Overlaid on Watches and Warnings

Adding current and forecast weather to your MyFleetView map is easy! Start your 30 day trial today! Here’s how.

4 Steps to Adding Services

4 Steps to Adding Services

Adding Services step 1

Adding Services step 1

Adding Services Step 2

Adding Services Step 2

 

 

Fleet Privacy Mode

by | Aug 23, 2023 | Announcements-News, Geotab

Privacy Mode Mobile View

Privacy Mode Mobile App
The Privacy Feature will be implemented in phases and will improve over time.

Privacy Mode in Geotab

Fleet Privacy Mode is a feature that allows drivers and dispatchers to freely stop driving activity for selected vehicles from appearing in user interface and API. Privacy Mode is intended for market-specific instances that require the driver to have optional intervals of privacy, such as when using a work vehicle for personal time or taking a work vehicle home at night. Many municipal agencies offer take home vehicles yet need to keep the employees general home private.

With PM enabled, information related to the vehicles position, speed, and engine data will not be processed as usual. Driving data created by a vehicle in PM will be marked as private when being stored into a Geotab database. Any such data cannot be viewed in online or extracted from the API using normal means. In circumstances like accident events, the manufacturer can extract private data for a vehicle to assist with event reconstruction, provided Geotab is given permission to access this data. Prior to granting such permission to Geotab, the customer must ensure they have received all necessary consents from the driver of the vehicle in question.

Fleet Privacy Mode Trip

The Trips History page will indicate any trips made in Privacy Mode with an icon and the title Private trip. Trip data can be set to remain private for a period of time of totally excluded from the customer account.

Learn More

Critical Weather Layers

by | Aug 2, 2023 | GPS Tracking

MORE THAN RADAR – CRITICAL WEATHER

Almost any business with a fleet is impacted by critical weather. Services like the National Weather Service can tell you the weather in general, but not always the locally critical road conditions affecting your business. Critical weather references the exceptions to routine weather which is average and does not change our daily routine. Critical weather requires adjusting how we do business and live our lives because it represents extremes. Black ice, hail, tornados and heavy rain are examples of critical weather.

With 10 years of weather data to work with, formulas have been created and tested that provide statistically significant probability of accuracy in predicting when black ice might be present, where a storm is going and the severity of a hail storm. The MyFleetView map in your account (shown above) gives you access to various map layers for evaluation.

 

MyFleetistics Critical Weather

Daily Operations

As fleet managers, we understand the impact weather has on our business. As weather intelligence gets better weather data becomes another variable in the decision-making process. The accuracy and timeliness of weather data determines the value of the data. The sooner the data is available the more time there is to plan or respond more effectively.

Whether trucking, service of delivery, all fleet operations are subject to weather conditions. Critical weather goes beyond fleet operations and into many areas of a business such as:

  • Customer service – customers which cannot be serviced have to be rescheduled which results in a loss of productivity and revenue
  • Administration – Service credits, billing adjustments, and service ticket administration all feel the impact of weather
  • Dispatching – Weather determines how many customers can be seen in a day, how many delays or reschedules are needed
  • Risk & Legal – Workers compensation, accident liability, and insurance vary based on weather
  • Logistics – The ability to get supplies to the right location at the right time so customers can be service or operations continued