5 ways vehicle tracking can improve safety

5 ways vehicle tracking can improve safety

Vehicle tracking allows you to gain insight into activities that phone calls and text messages can't provide, such as real-time vehicle location and routing, insight into driving behavior and compliance, and much more. Here are five ways vehicle tracking can improve fleet safety:

Tracking driving behavior

Knowing how your drivers are performing on the road is critical to keeping costs down, drivers safe, and customers happy. Vehicle tracking systems give you access to safety analytics and actionable data that you can use to spot poor driving habits. You can easily monitor a vehicle's speed in specific areas, moments of hard braking and sharp turns, and see acceleration rates, which helps you identify areas of concern and train your drivers if necessary. By reducing bad driving habits, you help increase the longevity of your fleet by reducing wear and tear, accidents, and fuel costs.

Customize driver training

Vehicle tracking solutions help you analyze driving behaviors that can lead to accidents or serious incidents. With actionable safety data, you can virtually spot trends and patterns of poor driving for each driver. In addition, in-dash camera technology allows you to record driving hours, so you can see what your drivers are experiencing at any time during their work hours. These safety tools give you insight into the driving habits of your fleet, regardless of size. You can use this data to customize training sessions for individuals and groups with specific driving habits and reward good drivers for keeping your company safe.

Improve vehicle maintenance

A vehicle is only as good as the condition it is in. The right vehicle tracking system gives you insight into the health of your fleet by flagging a vehicle's maintenance or service needs. With vehicle tracking software, you can set custom thresholds and alerts for pre-trip inspections and maintenance based on the vehicle's odometer readings. This allows you to monitor and support the longevity of your fleet and anticipate costly repairs or unnecessary services that result from unmaintained assets.

Digital processes

Vehicle tracking software does more than just monitor. It helps guide and organize your team with digital tools that streamline processes such as task management, proof of delivery, pre-trip checklists, and document access. With the right vehicle tracking platform, your drivers can access necessary documents such as invoices online, perform scheduled vehicle inspections quickly and accurately, track daily route sheets that direct them to missions, and capture proof of delivery online. Digitizing processes empowers your drivers to focus on the safest driving practices, reduces the likelihood of accidents, maintains or improves your safety score, and ultimately can help you retain your best drivers.

Meet compliance and regulations

Fatigued drivers on the road are a dangerous and often costly combination. Rules and regulations are in place to ensure that drivers get the rest they need and work the hours they need to maintain a good work-life balance. Investment-worthy vehicle tracking solutions provide electronic logging devices (ELDs) to automate the tracking of drivers' work hours and ensure that they record their time on duty (TOD) accordingly. Vehicle tracking software also allows you to set alerts and send messages to your drivers to remind them of breaks and other compliance-related tasks. Companies can rely on drivers to stay compliant and rest between and during their work shifts, reducing the number of driver-related traffic incidents, violations, and costly fines across your fleet.