Ultimate Guide to Driving Behavior Monitoring In Your Fleet

1
Ultimate Guide to Driving Behavior Monitoring In
Your Fleet
Author Ayushi Nagalia
Read Time
Published January 6, 2023
Last Update August 11th, 2023
Table of Contents
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Driver Behaviour Monitoring with Fleet Management
Software is a multi-faceted procedure benefitting
not just driving, but overall fleet safety,
sustainability, and performance! Imagine you
have two identical fleets. You implement a driver
behaviour monitoring system in one and let the
other drivers do whatever they want. The
difference between the resource consumption of
these fleets can be up to 75. The latter fleet
is also 64 more susceptible to being involved
in road accidents. Thats how powerful driver
behaviour monitoring solutions can be! So, do you
want to keep an eye on the people supposed to
keep an eye on your assets? And do you want to
drive your sales and business safety to the top?
Let us look into how effective driver monitoring
and analysis can help you do just that!
Talk To Our Experts!
How Important is a Drivers Role in a Fleet? Who
will drive your vehicles if not the drivers?
Without drivers, a fleet simply can not
exist! Needless to say, other than vehicles,
drivers are the most crucial part of your fleet
business model. They dont just drive your
vehicles, but your fleet business in general.
After all, they are responsible for Consignment
reaching the destination on time Vehicles
staying safe Keeping accident cases at bay
Maintaining healthy engines Overall fuel
consumption Maintaining goodwill by compliance
and timely work Overall operational
execution Total fleet productivity Whats more
is that as assets to your business, their safety
is also a primary factor of concern for fleets!
Human errors, that drivers are most likely to
make, cost about 1.35 million deaths or 86 of
all road accidents a year. Good drivers, on the
other hand, can help waive insurance costs even
if the vehicle was in an accident!
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How to Differentiate Between Good and Bad
Driving? Bad driving behaviour is like any
generally bad habit humans pick up such as
smoking or sleeping in unhealthy positions. Most
of the time, we do not even realise when we
develop the habit, how it affects our life, and
if it is even a problem. Therefore, it is not
the drivers fault if they have bad driving
habits it is actually natural. However, it is
bad when drivers know where they are lacking,
and still continue to practice unhealthy driving
practices. But, what are these bad driving
practices that you need to be monitoring and
eradicating from your fleet? Lets find
out! Aggressive Driving Skills
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Overspeeding Overspeeding increases the
possibility of an accident by 85 and increases
fuel consumption by 20. Staying within speed
limits is crucial for safe and efficient
driving. Harsh Braking Each time a driver brakes
harshly, they increase fuel consumption by half a
gallon. Harsh braking is also not good for your
vehicles engine and the brake pad, making it
depreciate faster. Abrupt Acceleration Bad
acceleration practices are as bad as harsh
braking. Both of them also decrease road
safety. Harsh Cornering Not only can harsh
cornering make top-heavy vehicles overturn but
also put other closeby vehicles in jeopardy.
Harsh cornering is also bad for the vehicles
tyres. Riding the Clutch While riding the
clutch seems innocent, it causes the disc to
prematurely wear and fail. If this happens
during a trip, it can be dangerous for the
vehicle to go further and is also an expensive
affair to fix. Tailgating Driving too close to
the vehicle in front is dangerous. If the latter
brakes abruptly, a rear-end collision will
surely cost a lot in repairs and insurance
addressal.
Harmful Driver Behaviour Smoking Smoking can
temporarily tamper with motor functions, is a
fire hazard, and can even be a cause of
distraction while driving. Distracted Driving
Driving distractedly because of cell phone use
leads to 1.6 million crashes each year. Anything
that doesnt need their immediate attention but
peels their eyes off the road is not
safe. Jumping Lights Failure to follow traffic
rules and jumping traffic lights is dangerous
since it leads to a lot of accidents and is also
a public nuisance. Breaking Driving Laws Not
wearing a seat belt and braking other such small
traffic rules can lead to heavy fines and worse
damage to vehicles, consignments, and drivers in
case of an accident. Freewheeling Turning off
the engine while going downhill breaks off the
power brake and steering functions of the
vehicle, putting a heavy vehicle in immense
danger. Driving Under the Influence Not only
does it increase the chance of accidents but also
an overall hazard for business goodwill and
consignment safety. Driving When Tired Sleepy
driving is sure to lead to accidents and should
be avoided at any cost.
Behaviour That Harms Business Operations Derouting
Some drivers might use a commercial vehicle for
personal use and deroute often for their own
purposes. This is essentially chatting the
business and exploiting its resources. Delayed
Driving Whether it be because of slow driving or
taking unnecessary breaks if a driver is
constantly late, it breaks the business
goodwill.
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What is Driver Behaviour Monitoring in Fleet
Management Systems? In the olden times, there
was no way of tracking driver behaviour. After
all, how can fleet owners and managers know
whats happening in the fleet without actually
being in the vehicles? However, in the current
times, most fleet management systems come
integrated with driver behaviour monitoring
systems. Through these systems, supervisors can
understand what exactly it is that goes on in
their vehicles. Fleet management systems are
essentially data banks for the fleets that are
integrated with them. Therefore, it leverages
all the sensor, travel, and other information
collected throughout each trip to understand how
each driver is performing and presents it in
digestible reports. Driver behaviour management
systems can also send alerts to managers in case
of any unwanted event.
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Therefore, be it digital or visual, driver
behaviour monitoring systems are the ideal way to
know how each driver is performing and how each
vehicle is driven. After all, driving is the key
link between your two most important assets
vehicle and drivers, right?
Get Solutions Here!
The Role That Fleet Management Solutions Play in
Driver Behaviour Management If you are using a
fleet management solution that has driver
behaviour monitoring solutions, youll always
have data related to how your fleet is driven.
However, in the world of dwindling attention
spans, you wouldnt want to be bombarded by a
huge number of .txt files that you can hardly sit
through, right? Well, youve paid to get better
services! Fleet management software uses the
following ways to detect, depict, and deduce
instances of bad driver behaviour Real-time
Visibility Through live vehicle tracking, youll
be aware of the drivers activities in real time
as and when theyre behind the wheel. This way,
even if you have switched off driver behaviour
anomaly alerts, you can hop on the software to
see what everyone is up to. You can also increase
visibility through video telematics (but more on
that later)! Instant Violation Alerts Every
time a driver indulges in bad behaviour and
violates the pre-defined norms, the system will
trigger alerts to supervisors. This way, managers
get to respond, not react to a situation that has
already gone uncontrollably bad. Alerts also add
a dimension of continuous and effortless
supervision to your fleet. Detailed Reports
With a cloud-based system, you get the most
minute reports that you could ask for. After all,
theyre arranging and organising those huge
files into bite-sized bits, right? You can get
reports for overspeeding, field consumption, and
other metrics vehicle-wise, driver-wise, or even
trip-wise for a span of 90 days! From speeding
reports to stoppage summaries, you get it
all! Analytical Dashboard A fleet management
systems analytical dashboard can be viewed
according to drivers. Therefore, you can see who
the top-performing drivers are and how they are
showing improvement over the months. The
dashboard offers the best perspective to on-point
data insights. Driver Scorecard Fleet
management systems can form digital scorecards
that allow managers to see which drivers they
can trust their high-ticket vehicles and
consignment with. By analysing various factors,
you get a score rating between zero and five
that can further identify good drivers from
bad. How Can GPS Vehicle Tracking Improve
Driver Behaviour? GPS vehicle tracking systems
can offer you insights and reports that help.
However, it is what happens with those reports
that improve driver behaviour in your fleet. Here
are a couple of things that happen within your
fleet because of driver behaviour monitoring
systems that improve how your fleet is driven in
the long run. Accountability When drivers are
aware that they are under surveillance and their
performance is being tracked, they feel
accountable. After all, who would want their work
to be scrutinized with evidence? Therefore, most
drivers start practising healthy driving by
themselves. Competitiveness The driver score
function of fleet management systems is a
sustainable way to increase productivity
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in the fleet. The drivers who really care about
their work (and these are the pens you want to
begin with) will want their performance to stand
out, encouraging them to be better! Better
Training When you see the driver-wise
performance, you instantly know where each driver
needs improvement. Therefore, instead of
imparting vague and general feedback and
training, you can really help them with the
right inputs from your end.
Testing If Your Drivers Are Sustainable
Eco-Driving Eco-driving is the new buzzword in
the fleet management industry and for good
reason! It is a culmination of a set of driving
practices that your drivers should follow to
ensure the least possible carbon emission from
your vehicles. Eco-driving practices are known
to reduce your fleets carbon footprint by 50
while also reducing field consumption and
costs. If you are worried about the amount of
fuel your vehicles are consuming and your
business contribution to global pollution, you
must mandate eco-driving practices. Factors such
as route optimization, vehicle maintenance, and
maintaining optimum vehicle load are on you.
However, you need to ensure that your drivers are
not slamming the brake and accelerator, maintain
eco- friendly speed, avoid idling, and drive the
vehicle in the right gear. Drivers could also
ensure that they keep the vehicle rolling as
much as they can since constant starting and
stopping of the vehicle also consumed too much
fuel.
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Video Telematics Brings a New Wave to Driver
Supervision Real-time textual visibility is great
but is it as good as seeing what is going on in
the fleet? Adding another angle of visibility for
drivers is a great way to supervise in silence,
and that is exactly what video telematics
does. Video telematics is installing cameras
inside and outside your vehicle to help managers
be omniscient with their fleet. Apart from that,
it also makes advanced functions such as
proximity sensing, driver safety cautions, and
even crash supervision possible. Video telematics
is a new wave of driver supervision because
it Allows managers have live visual updates on
the drivers activities Integrated with AI and
ML to help build better safety measures for
assets Provides evidential reports on what is
going on in the fleet
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Builds higher accountability in the driving
force Makes the overall fleet much more
robust Develops a real time connection between
the drivers and the manager Offers evidential
content for directed feedback Prevents the risk
of undetected unsafe driving behaviour Helps
understand the cause of driver fatigue Sure,
being able to visually monitor your fleet is
amazing. However, the biggest reason why it is so
important for driver supervision is that it
enables ADAS and DMS systems. DMS and ADAS are
two crucial features promoting driver supervision
and safety. Together, DMS and ADAS offer an
extra set of eyes to either the drivers or the
managers. Therefore, they dont just improve
fleet management but also the holistic driving
experience. How? Lets see! Driver Management
System (DMS) DMS is the system that offers
managers to look at their drivers more closely.
Driver monitoring systems leverage the
internal-facing dashcams placed in the vehicle
that constantly monitors the drivers activities.
The dashcams are integrated with Artificial
intelligence. Therefore, if there is any anomaly
in the drivers conduct or activities, the DMS
system sends alerts to managers and keeps them
posted. Some of these monitored driver activities
are Smoking Distracted driving Drowsiness
Yawning Absence With these alerts, management
can build a safer fleet for drivers by Avoiding
distraction Sending SOS alarms to drivers if
theyre drowsy Assessing the right driving time,
situations, and even personnel for
tasks Advanced Driver Assistance Systems
(ADAS) ADAS allows both drivers and managers to
have a better idea of the road and the vehicles
surroundings. Advanced driver assistance systems
leverage the side-facing, road-facing, and just
about any other camera on the vehicle. Through
these cameras, managers get to monitor whats
doing around the vehicle. It also helps them see
how drivers are driving in relation to their
surroundings. Through ADAS, managers get alerts
for issues such as Forward Collision Signal
Violation Unethical Lane Switching
Overspeeding This understanding of proximities
and the vehicles relationship with its
surroundings helps by
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Creating better vigilance Allowing incidence
evidence for accidents
The Benefits of Tracking Driving Behaviour in
Your Fleet Drivers and vehicles are the two most
important components of your fleets operations.
And driver behaviour supervision bridges the gap
between the two by helping managers understand
how they function together. Here are a couple of
other benefits of tracking driver behaviour in
your fleet through vehicle tracking
software Improvement in Asset and Business
Safety Be it safety for the vehicles, drivers,
consignment, or business profits, a single
feature protects them all! How? Lets
see Safety for Consignment Vehicles carrying
fragile consignment need to be driven with extra
carefulness. Driver
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scorecards allow you to understand which
employees might be best for such smooth driving.
It can also help managers keep a special check
on drivers responsible for such vehicles to
minimize consignment damage. Safety for
Vehicles If drivers practice safe skills,
vehicles will automatically be safeguarded.
Better driving supervision leads to lower damage
to the vehicles parts, fewer collisions and
accidents, and better vehicle maintenance. Safety
for Drivers Better driving practices lead to
higher safety for drivers too. Moreover, they can
steer clear of false claims of accidents through
complete supervision systems. Drowsy drivers also
reduce the risk of falling asleep through DMS
alarms. Safety for Business Better driver
supervision saves business profits because it
builds higher goodwill in the market while also
protecting assets. It also reduces insurance
claims hassles and many more fines and can reduce
pilferage by monitoring fuel tank ejection or
using commercial vehicles for personal
use. Increased Productivity and Fleet
Strategy Automating several processes such as
knowing where drivers are and what is done inside
a vehicle saves managers a lot of time. They can
then spend this time on planning and strategizing
their next step to improve profits. Managers get
real-time updates about a drivers productivity
through the software. When drivers too know that
their number of tasks are being supervised, they
are more likely to be more productive. Better
Employee Retention and Training Good drivers are
hard to find, and it is even harder to keep them
if you do not treat them up to the mark. However,
it is not easy for managers to know which drivers
are the most dedicated and profitable for their
fleet. It is these drivers that they need to
retain and the others that they need to
train. Moreover, saving from false malpractices
and appreciating or reward for all good practices
is a splendid way to keep drivers in the
fleet. Longer Lasting Fleets As mentioned
earlier, good drive behaviour monitoring improves
vehicle safety and health. Therefore, they
will naturally stay in use for much longer than a
fleet that is not well maintained. Moreover,
driver supervision allows the vehicles to last
much longer by making sure that everything inside
the vehicle and the cabin is well
maintained. Better Fleet Reputation Since
drivers run vehicles and hence, most of your
fleets operations, how they perform has a direct
impact on your fleets reputation. And we all
know how important is it for clients to trust and
like your business to maintain your brand in the
market. Here are some ways in which improved
driver performance increases your fleets
goodwill Even the most fragile consignment will
reach your customers safely All deliveries will
be conducted on time Your drivers will maintain
safe behaviour on the roads The vehicles are well
maintained and compliant, eventually making your
name will clean business At the end of the day,
happy clients are the best advocates and
influencers fo your business. And you can
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make sure that your drivers make them happy with
effective supervision. Better Coping With
Increasing Fuel Prices Increasing fuel prices is
a huge global issue and the hassle is only going
to increase in the coming years. As it is, fuel
is the biggest expense in a fleet. Therefore,
reducing field consumption with eco-driving
practices enforced by supervising drivers is
important. Managers can check driving
performances for an overall view. They can also
check for real-time fuel consumption hazards
such as overspeeding and idling to avoid wasteful
fuel consumption. Increased Fleet
Profitability Obviously, when vehicles consume
less fuel and maintenance costs reduce because
drivers work properly, overall operational costs
will fall drastically. Moreover, increase
goodwill and better handling of products will
lead to more profits. When both these solutions
amalgamate in a large fleet, you can rest assured
that your business profits are only set to
skyrocket!
Boost Your Business
How Driver Monitoring Systems Help Drivers
Too Drivers often resist adopting fleet
management systems. Why? Because they feel that
they will be constantly under surveillance and
feel that their privacy is in danger. While
drivers are not wrong in believing that they will
be under a strict check, they are generally not
aware of the benefits driver behaviour
management systems have for them. These systems
increase driver safety, both physically, and
mentally. Heres now Ensure Safety Drowsy
driver alarms will wake them up if they are
falling asleep, and any collision possibility
will be put into their radar as well. Moreover,
with a comprehensive fleet management system,
they also get SOS buttons to ask for help from
managers whenever they seem to be in
trouble. Better Career With driver behaviour
monitoring systems, drivers get directed and
detailed feedback considering that their
individual performance is tracked. Moreover, if
they maintain a good driver score, they can use
it as an achievement to flaunt while getting a
new job. Excess Driving The system keeps tabs
on the number of hours a vehicle is driven and
which driver has been active on it. This way, In
case a driver has been working much more than
healthy, they will be notified to take some rest
for their mind and body. This way, they can
always stay fresh while driving, keeping them
safer. No False Blame When a commercial truck
is involved in an accident, it is usually the
truck driver who is set to blame. However, they
are obviously not always in the wrong, and that
can be proved through evidence from video
telematics. Therefore, drivers will never be
falsely blamed again.
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Some Fleet Problems TrackoBit Solved With Driver
Behaviour Management Solutions Driver behaviour
management solutions are not just restricted to
supervising drivers and checking what they are up
to in the fleet. Instead, when paired with the
features of fleet management software, they can
solve several problems in the fleet. We talked
to some of our clients and figure out how to
solve some of their leading problems subtly with
driver behaviour management solutions. Lets
look into them below! Problem 1 My Vehicles
Are Consuming Too Much Fuel We understood that
there are several reasons why a fleet might be
consuming too much fuel. So, we first
run complete vehicle diagnostics for the fleet
and then optimised all their routes. However, the
vehicles still had
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poor mileage and the fleet continued to consume
too much fuel. Therefore, we used driver
monitoring solutions to understand why that way
and found that Drivers were idling too much
Overspeeding was a recurrent issue To solve
these problems, we recommended the client to
religiously check idling reports on the software
and enabled both overspeeding and idling alarms.
By doing so, the managers got real-time updates
on when drivers were indulging in field-wasting
driving patterns and hence, could train them
better. Resultingly, our client was able to
significantly cut down on fuel consumption and
were also able to reduce the instances of
accidents on highways. Problem 2 My Fleet
Business Received Low Insurance Claims One of our
clients was confused as to why their fleet
business got low insurance claims even though
they had fewer instances of accidents on the
highway than most of their competitors. After
running a complete analysis of the fleet, we
realised that the problem was with the fact that
the client did not use driver behaviour
management systems. Because of this, the
insurance company could blame anything on the
drivers. So, we recommended the client install
dashcams in their vehicles and integrated them
with our system. We also started collecting all
driver behaviour data and presented digestible
reports to the clients to understand and present
further. By doing so, the client was able to show
the insurance company how reliable and safe their
drivers and fleet are. With this, they were able
to build a solid case and get their insurance
claims back on track and absolve their drivers
of any false blame.
Get In Touch!
The Best Way to Drive Your Fleet Were sure you
knew that drivers were important, but didnt
expect to realise how much they influence
your fleet operations. To run a successful fleet
business, you need to identify, nurture, and
retain the good drivers while identifying,
supervising, and training the bad ones. And this
distinction is only possible to make through the
driver data collected on software. This software
can be TrackoBit, Indias fastest-growing
telematics software. With our superior driver
behaviour managing system, we were able to
access most of your problems on solving them for
you! Driver Behaviour Monitoring FAQs Q1 Can
driver behaviour monitoring solutions improve
fleet safety? Yes! Driver behaviour monitoring is
a critical feature helping increase overall fleet
safety. With smart driver supervision, fleet
managers can manage to improve safety for all
assets and the overall business. When drivers
follow safe practices, they automatically
safeguard themselves, the vehicle, and the
consignment. And by doing so, they are able to
maintain safety for the business profits and
goodwill.
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For special safety measures of special routes and
consignments, managers can increase the
supervision level on the trip as well! Q2 Can
you achieve prediction of dangerous driver
behaviour with fleet management software? Oh
yes, totally! Modern fleet management solutions
improve driver supervision with the help of
video telematics systems. These systems include
DMS and Adas, which are essentially AI-powered
supervision tools helping managers get a
predictive understanding of what is going to
happen to their fleet. DMS and ADAS together can
predict side, back, or forward collisions.
Moreover, they can also predict any danger when
drivers are distracted or sleepy. Other than
video telematics solutions, driver behaviour
supervision can also help understand what routes
tend to be more dangerous for which drivers and
which drivers can be the be ideal for fragile
consignment, etc. Q3 How does driver monitoring
work? For driver monitoring systems to function,
the vehicles must first be connected to efficient
fleet management software. Through various
hardware and the vehicles ODM readings, the
software can then start collecting data on how
the drivers are treating their vehicles. For
example, every instance of harsh braking would be
registered on the software under the drivers
profile. This way, each drivers strengths and
weaknesses are recorded and presented to
managers in a simple format. For live driver
monitoring solutions, the system can also send
alerts to the drivers as and when they indulge in
risky or prohibited behaviour. Managers can
check reports not only driver-wise but also
vehicle and trip-wise to understand driving
patterns and behaviour from a more comprehensive
lens. Q4 What are some effects of bad driving
behaviour on the fleet? Drivers are responsible
for some of the most important functions in your
fleet. Therefore, if they go wrong somewhere,
their mistakes can lead to Loss in
goodwill Quickly depreciating assets Frequent
accidents Resource wastage Bad relations with
customers Increase insurance troubles Lower the
bottom line of your business
TrackoBit able to access most of your problems on
solving them for you!
Contact Us Now!
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