Consumer expectations for fast, on-time delivery have never been higher. At the same time, an unpredictable global economy is keeping logistics managers on their toes. Warehousing operations must adapt to the constant state of change and prepare for the unexpected. Fortunately, new technologies have made adapting to fluctuating demand easier than ever.

Let’s take a look at the costs involved with MHE, how to right-size your fleet, and MHE solutions that can help streamline the process.

Many logistics managers struggle to adapt to fluctuating demand, but telematics can help bring order to the chaos. Share on X

Understanding Costs

MHE costs represent a significant portion of operating budgets. These costs are an important variable in determining an optimal fleet size, so it’s important to have a realistic understanding that goes beyond the initial purchasing costs. These additional costs include things like maintenance, parts, labor and service agreement costs.

Some important cost-related questions to ask include:

• What is the cost-per-hour for different vehicle types or brands?
• What does the average age and repair history look like for different assets?
• What does the total cost of ownership look like for different assets?

Lift trucks typically cost between $15,000 and $30,000 each, but that’s just 20% of the lifetime cost. The other 80% of the total cost comes from maintenance over the life of the vehicle, which varies depending on usage patterns and preventative maintenance. Service agreements may streamline some of these costs but have their own nuances that can lead to overruns.

In addition to vehicle costs, lift truck operators make $14 or more per hour and supervisors can make upwards of $50,000 per year with benefits. The underutilization of employee’s time can quickly become a significant cost since people are less flexible than equipment. Meanwhile, the quality of employees’ skills set can have a big impact on efficiency and equipment lifespan.

Right Sizing Your Fleet

Determining the optimal fleet size is one of the most important parts of meeting variable demand. While too many vehicles can result in unnecessary short and long-term costs, it’s much easier to reduce materials handling equipment in use by simply parking them than it is to ramp up new equipment purchases to meet short-term demand.

Telematics can help determine the optimal fleet size by providing a detailed picture of usage patterns over time. For example, a fleet owner might realize that some lift trucks have a near 100% usage rate whereas others have a sub-50% usage rate. These patterns clearly indicate where MHE investments might be necessary to meet unexpected demand spikes.

Some important questions to ask include:

• How many lift trucks and what type are needed to meet expected demand?
• What is the maximum demand likely and what’s the best way to meet it?
• What equipment has the highest and lowest levels of utilization?
• What is the downtime associated with each vehicle type?
• How is each vehicle being utilized in the operation?

Ramping up MHE also requires a combination of sourcing, capital and time. One way to reduce some of these costs is to standardize the fleet. In addition to easier ordering and budget estimates, shippers with multiple sites can more easily redistribute equipment between sites when needed, without worrying about retraining employees on different equipment.

Finally, short-term rentals can help provide flexibility without the high cost of leasing an entire fleet. For instance, a manager may calculate that a distribution operation requires 30.4 units, but rather than purchasing 31 units, a better decision might be purchasing 30 and covering the 0.4 units with a short-term rental agreement.

MHE Solutions Can Help

Digital transformation is more than a buzzword when it comes to manufacturing and distribution. With the right data in hand, the operations team can quickly and easily make data-driven decisions that have a real impact on the bottom line. Telematics and other technologies eliminate a lot of the guesswork that can lead to inefficient operations and suboptimal profit margins.

Powerfleet IQ provides unparalleled insights into your operations. Source: Powerfleet

For instance, Powerfleet Industrial provides telematics solutions for industrial fleets of any size. In addition to equipment-level telematics,  Powerfleet Industrial solutions provide unparalleled insights into your fleet to right-size operations by determining what equipment is being used to avoid over-ordering forklifts, as well as coordinate equipment across multiple locations.

Telematics also provide a variety of other benefits:

• Safety: Telematics make it easy to control access to equipment, create pre-shift checklists and instantly notify supervisors when collisions or impacts occur. In addition, managers can access aggregate statistics of safety incidents, speeds and other factors for each operator in order to protectively identify problematic behaviors.
• Compliance: Manufacturers must ensure that operators have completed the correct OSHA training and certifications before they operate equipment in order to avoid liabilities. Telematics can track these certifications and ensure that uncertified operators cannot access equipment, thereby preventing violations.
• Maintenance: Telematics can reduce maintenance costs through preventative maintenance routines. By planning ahead and proactively maintaining vehicles, businesses can reduce unexpected downtime, ensure parts are on-hand and ultimately prevent more costly disruptions from happening in the first place.

Powerfleet’s solutions can help manufacturing and warehousing operations right-size their fleets with unique insights on peak vehicle utilization, as well as provide metrics on operator activities to identify opportunities for productivity improvement and labor allocation. Two-way text messaging systems, impact sensors and other technologies also promote safety and operational benefits.

These benefits can provide a significant contribution to the bottom-line. For instance, a large food manufacturing company implemented Powerfleet’s solutions to monitor vehicle use and employee habits. The result was a 70% decrease in accidents, an 80% decrease in damage and $400,000 in cost savings per year, along with improved productivity.

The Bottom Line

Many manufacturing and warehouse operation managers struggle to adapt to fluctuating demand, but with rising expectations and uncertainty, it’s becoming more important. Fortunately, telematics and data analytics solutions can help provide unique sights to right-size fleets, optimize labor allocation and ensure that everything runs smoothly.

Contact us today to learn more!

Many service businesses deliver their services at customer sites, which requires company vehicles and employee drivers. While accidents are rare, they can be extremely costly in terms of property damage, lost productivity, missed sales calls and potential third-party liability claims from at-fault crashes—and technology can play a key role in mitigating these costs.

Let’s take a look at the high cost of unsafe driving, how to implement the right policies and the role that technology plays in encouraging  good driving behaviors.

Telematics can play a key role in improving driver behavior and reducing crash risks for private/service fleets. Share on X

The Causes & Costs of Unsafe Driving

The number of motor vehicle deaths and crashes per capita have steadily fallen since 1975, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). While safety improvements have made a big impact on these metrics over time, there were still 33,244 crashes and 36,096 deaths on American roads in 2019.

Speeding was a factor in 26% of motor vehicle accidents over the past decade and the percentage of crash deaths involving speeding was higher on minor roads (31%) compared to interstates (29%) or major roads (23%). About half of all speeding-related fatalities occurred on roads with posted speed limits of less than 55 miles per hour.

Types of Distracted Driving – Source: DOT

Distracted driving accounted for about six percent of fatal crashes in 2019, although the National Safety Council believes that it could be underreported or inconsistently reported. While daydreaming was the primary cause of distraction (62% of cases), cell phone use was associated with 13% of these fatal crashes.

Fleet vehicle accidents are among the most expensive injury claims for businesses, according to Automotive Fleet. Aside from property damage, fleet crashes have a lot of other costs and potential third-party liability claims from an at-fault crash. Since most businesses self-insure their fleet, companies are directly responsible for these costs.

Prevention Training, Policies & Procedures

The first step in encouraging safe driving and preventing costly accidents is implementing the right training, policies and procedures. In addition to setting standards for drivers to prevent accidents from occurring in the first place, documenting training provides physical evidence that fleets prioritized safety, which can help limit liability in at-fault crashes.

A common source of distracted driving is an unrealistic expectation that field employees be working 100% of the time. When drivers feel compelled to use company vehicles as mobile offices and multitask, there’s a much higher risk of an accident or crash due to distracted driving, so companies should have the right expectations on their end.

Routes and schedules also need to be realistic in order to encourage safe driving. If there’s too little time between appointments, drivers may be tempted to speed to make it to appointments on time, which increases the risk of a crash. Flexibility in scheduling is key to ensure that drivers have enough time to both satisfy customers and make it safely to their next appointment.

A great way to improve safety on the road and maintain productivity is to add a second person to each job. With two people in the vehicle, the driver can focus on the road while the passenger can focus on work-related tasks, such as checking directions, gathering job details, contacting the customer, talking to dispatch or handling other common tasks.

How Technology Improves Safety

Technology has helped dramatically improve safety on the road. Aside from seatbelts and airbags, modern vehicles are equipped with sensors that warn drivers of a potential impact and even apply the brakes to avoid or mitigate the impact. New vehicles are constantly improving their safety ratings and keeping drivers and passengers safer on the road.

Modern fleet telematics and dashboard cameras have also made it easier for drivers to receive instant feedback on their driving style and for fleet managers to remotely access driver behavior. The instant feedback to drivers while they are driving and the consistent reinforcement of good driver behavior, provides the opportunity to create a strong self-sustaining safety culture. In addition to creating clear policies and  training programs, managers can also monitor driver behavior in real-time and look for instances of speeding, hard braking, sudden acceleration or minor impacts. They can also quickly determine the real-time locations of vehicles at all times if an incident happens.

Fleets can use the real-time telematics data to assess driver behavior and address any problems before incidents occur. While penalizing drivers with a poor record seems like a natural choice, fleets should consider creating reward programs for good driving behaviors. The Hawthorne Effect will naturally encourage better driving behavior. Dispelling myths and providing transparent communication with employees about the technology being used in vehicles can help establish trust and buy-in.

Telematics can also help improve the driver and customer experience by setting the right expectations. With the right data in hand, fleets can more accurately estimate arrival times, job times and optimal routes. Companies can even configure automatic alerts that inform customers when a technician is on the way without the need for a phone call.

The Bottom Line

Technology has dramatically improved driver safety over the past few decades, but there are still an alarmingly high number of fatal and non-fatal crashes each year. Accidents can be particularly costly for private fleets, which tend to face greater liability than the general public and must grapple with the costs of lost productivity and missed sales calls.

In addition to the right training policies and procedures, modern telematics can help fleets remotely monitor driver behavior in real-time while unlocking a number of other benefits, such as improved scheduling, proactive maintenance, fuel efficiency monitoring and location-based data that can help dispatchers coordinate appointments.

Of course, the key to a successful implementation of these telematics solutions is finding the right vendor that can help with both installation and usage. All the data in the world isn’t very helpful if it’s not available in an actionable format and actually acted upon by managers.

Powerfleet for Vehicles Reporting Example – Source: Powerfleet

Powerfleet for Vehicles provides a range of telematics solutions designed to help private fleets achieve better safety records and minimize risk at an affordable cost. Fleets can access all of the data that they need on a single dashboard that provides information on fuel efficiency, safety events and individual driver track records. Contact us today!

The U.S. Postal Service spent an average of $472,744 per month on idle trailers between January 2019 and March 2020, according to a recent article by Brian Straight in FreightWaves. Of course, idle trailer problems aren’t unique to the USPS: Francis Roy, Vice President at vHUB, says that as much as 20% of North American trailer fleets sit unused at any given point in time.

Let’s take a look at the industry’s idle trailer problem and strategies that fleets can use to improve trailer utilization and enhance profitability.

An estimated 20% of North America’s trailer fleets sit unused at any given point in time—are you optimizing your trailer utilization? Share on X

An Idle Problem

There’s growing optimism of a vibrant freight market in 2021, according to Don Ake, Vice President of Freight Transportation Research, thanks to a sharp uptick in ecommerce demand and other factors. At the same time, fewer drivers, OEM production challenges, more government regulations and other issues have limited supply side capacity and led to about a fifth of trailers sitting idle, creating a disconnect in the market.

Francis Roy believes that many trucking companies don’t realize how badly they’re underutilizing trailers, leading to the massive idling problem.

According to the American Trucking Association, less than a quarter of the nation’s trailer fleet was equipped with tracking devices in 2019. The figure is expected to rise to 45% this year, but that still covers less than half of trailers. Without trailer tracking, it’s impossible for trucking companies to accurately determine where trailers are in order to improve utilization.

Most fleets focus on maximizing driver hours ahead of fleet utilization, which leads to more drop-and-hook freight. While these trends are beneficial for drivers paid by the mile and shippers that can load or unload trailers at their convenience, it leads to empty trailers sitting around until a driver is able to pick them up—and low trailer utilization levels.

Trailer Tracking Technology

Technology can play a key role in improving trailer visibility, both in terms of location and load status. Fortunately, modern telematics solutions can help quickly identify trailer location and status—as well as real-time tractor locations via in-cab ELD-compliant solution, which can be displayed in an easy-to-use dashboard for dispatch and operations management.

Powerfleet’s easy-to-use interface. Source: Powerfleet

There are four key pieces of information:

1. Dispatch needs to be able to find the nearest available trailer.
2. Dispatch needs to know that the trailer is empty.
3. The driver needs to easily find the trailer.
4. The trailer needs to be road-ready.

In addition to location and load status, holistic solutions can provide freight images from  HD cameras, door open/close sensors, temperature/humidity/pressure/light measurements and an integrated accelerometer to provide deeper insights. Reefer solutions that can even integrate with chillers to make remote changes to trailer conditions without a driver goes beyond monitoring but actually controlling the asset.  

Leveraging the Data to Improve

Technology provides a wealth of data for maximizing trailer utilization, but the key is leveraging that data to inform decisions. Best-in-class software systems make it easy to see real-time assets on a live map  as well as provide a dashboard with dynamic AI-powered interaction with a fleet’s assets and cargo database without manually running reports.

Trailer data can also extend well beyond optimizing utilization to:

• Improve Schedules: Most fleets use drop-and-hook strategies to avoid complex scheduling problems but taking the time to improve scheduling and increase the number of live loads can help maximize trailer utilization.
• Optimize Loads: Trailers or containers with sub-optimal loads can be even more costly than idle trailers since they are still transported. Load mixing and other strategies can help maximize the capacity of each trailer and container.
• Right Size Pools: Collecting usage data and inactivity over time can help fleets determine the optimal size of their trailer pool. If there’s a lot of inactivity, it could be a sign that the trailer pool needs to be cut down to improve efficiency.
• Increase Detention Fees: Detention fees incentivize shippers and receivers to quickly load and unload trailers to minimize idle time. Higher detention fees can help increase these incentives and minimize the time it takes to load trailers.

For example, ReedTMS Logistics, a third-party logistics provider, used Powerfleet solutions to find empty trailers in real-time, load specific assets near customer locations, achieve a trailer-to-truck ratio as high as 3.75 to 1 with minimal idle trailers and right-size its trailer pool to avoid over $1 million in capital costs while maximizing its revenue per trailer.  

Taking a Holistic Approach

Telematics solutions provide fleets with critical business intelligence to efficiently run their operations and service their customers. While trailer tracking is important, it’s just one part of a wider data-driven culture that can dramatically improve bottom line performance. Fleets should consider adopting a full suite of technologies to maximize their profitability.

Powerfleet’s in-cab ELD solution goes beyond the basics. Source: Powerfleet

For example, in-cab ELD systems that go beyond the basics can provide a wealth of data, including real-time location, fuel consumption analysis and complex driver workflows. These data points can help avoid unnecessary driving, track engine working hours and idling, help drivers better manage the way they drive and proactively maintain vehicles.

The real-time data from tractors and trailers can provide a broad range of insights. For example, you can compare your fleet operations against broad industry benchmarks, determine the profitability of different customers or locations, identify excessive detention and assess fines, and access a broad range of key performance indicators to drive business decisions.

The Bottom Line

Trailer utilization is lacking across most of the nation’s fleets. As managers focus on maximizing driver hours, fleet utilization gets put on the backburner and silently costs millions. Trailer tracking solutions can address these problems by providing real-time location and load status for each asset, providing unprecedented visibility into a fleet’s nationwide or global assets.

In addition to trailer tracking, fleets should consider in-cab solutions and other telematics to access a holistic picture of their business in real-time. Combining these data points with cutting-edge software can provide highly valuable key performance indicators to drive high-stakes business decisions and ensure a streamlined operation.

For more information, visit our website or contact us for a free consultation.

Global road freight transportation accounts for about one-third of transport emissions, according to Our World in Data, and many experts believe that it will surpass passenger vehicles by 2050 to become a leading source of transport emissions.

Tesla’s launch of an all-electric Semi and Amazon’s new electric delivery vans are moving in the right direction, but experts believe it will be decades before electric vehicles replace long distance road fleets. In the meantime, the trucking industry is relying on technologies to improve the efficiency of its existing equipment and operations.

Let’s take a look at why the trucking industry is under pressure to reduce emissions and the technologies that could usher in a new greener trucking industry.

Global road freight accounts for about one-third of transport emissions, but new technologies could help the industry turn the corner. Share on X

Pressure to Go Green

The trucking industry is no stranger to federal regulations. Federal and state clean air regulations have driven reductions in carbon emissions and improvements in truck fuel economy for many years. Most of these regulations encourage manufacturers to develop cleaner diesel models, but some, like emissions inspections, also impact trucking fleets.

Aside from top-down regulations, there’s also bottom-up pressure to reduce emissions. For example, Matt McLelland, Director of Innovation at Covenant Logistics Group, told FreightWaves that some shippers are starting to inquire about the company’s policies on sustainability as part of their requests for proposal submissions.

Investors are also putting pressure on all kinds of companies to create environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals and report their progress in meeting them over time. While funding is rarely contingent on these goals, investor interest in ESG-friendly companies is creating deeper pools of liquidity for ESG-friendly companies.

Fleet management, route optimization and driver performance are becoming important strategies to meet these standards and reduce emissions. Of course, the same policies can be very beneficial for companies since they improve fuel economy and profitability—and in some cases, provide an important competitive advantage.

Start with a Better Plan

The best starting point for reducing emission is better planning. In 2007, UPS famously eliminated left turns using new route planning technology, which cut almost 30 million miles from its delivery routes and saved 3.3 million gallons of fuel that year alone. The same principles of better planning can help improve long-haul trucking performance.

A common example is minimizing dwell/detention time. The average truck driver spends two and a half hours waiting at the shipper or receiver to load or unload cargo, which leads to $3 billion per year in costs and a lot of excessive emissions for idle engines (particularly in reefers). Drop trailers are a tried-and-true method to reduce these dwell times, while asset tracking tools can provide real-time insights into dwell times and asset turns.

Modern route planning software can also help increase efficiency on the road. Rather than simply finding the quickest route to a given destination, these tools can optimize for multiple variables, including the fastest time, lowest mileage and cheapest fuel stops along the way with commercial heavy duty vehicles in mind. These so-called “reverse logistics” strategies may also combine pickup and delivery to minimize the amount of time spent driving without a trailer.

Optimize Driver Behaviors

Driver behavior can significantly influence emissions. For example, driving at high speeds uses much more gas and causes greater wear and tear to the engine and tires. Every mile per hour increase in speed has a 0.14 mpg penalty in fuel consumption. On the other hand, cruise control that is set at the speed limit—and a reasonable RPM—minimizes these issues and can have a dramatic improvement on fuel economy and emissions.

Aside from adhering to the speed limit, modern ELD systems can monitor average speeds, acceleration, braking and other driver habits, as well as enable two-way driver communication to immediately address any driver-related problems. Trucking companies can use the information to reward efficient drivers through incentive programs as well as penalize non-compliant drivers that regularly violate the rules.

In addition to encouraging good driving habits, trucking companies should have protocols to ensure maximum efficiency. Truckers should regularly inspect their vehicles for low tire pressure and other simple issues that can significantly reduce MPG, as well as minimize idling when at a rest stop or at the loading dock in order to avoid unnecessary emissions and fuel waste. Again, these factors can be easily monitored with modern trailer tracking and ELD solutions.

Proactive Maintenance

Engine breakdowns are the most obvious sign of poor maintenance, but silent maintenance issues can quickly add up in cost well before a breakdown. For example, a malfunctioning catalytic converter can cause sluggish engine performance and a significant increase in harmful emissions long before it causes any kind of breakdown. Proactive engine maintenance can keep these costs down and reduce the odds of a breakdown.

Many trucking companies track engine hours, fuel levels and mileage as proxies for proactive engine maintenance. With best in class tracking technologies, these activities can be transformed from a manual task on a driver’s already-busy checklist to something that’s automatically done in the background. Drivers can focus their attention on brakes, tires, fluids and electrical checks on their routes, as well as keeping safe on the road.

Proactive maintenance can also be done opportunistically in order to minimize downtime. For example, a trucking company may plan a route with a stop close to a service station. The service on the truck could be timed with the driver’s HOS downtime in order to maximize on-the-road hours while ensuring regular vehicle maintenance.

The Bottom Line

Global road freight accounts for a growing percentage of transport emissions. While trucking demand continues to rise, customers are increasingly adding environmental concerns to their RFPs and investors are increasingly demanding environmental accountability. Electric trucks are in development but could still be years away from replacing existing fleets.

New technologies can improve the efficiency of existing fleets through better planning and real-time data insights. With modern in-cab ELD solutions and real-time cargo sensors, fleets can minimize idle time and maximize efficiency by instantly knowing where all of their assets are in the yard and better planning routes with vehicles on the road.

Powerfleet provides both in-cab ELD-compliant solutions, as well as freight cameras and trailer tracking tags to provide full visibility. For more information, check out our Powerfleet for Logistics products page.

Distracted driving is a leading cause of crashes and fatalities on highways. According to Bankrate, between 14% and 17% of all crashes were due to distracted driving over the past ten years. In fact, University of Utah researchers found that talking on a cell phone while driving was as dangerous as drunk driving—even a hands-free model! April is Distracted Driver Awareness Month, which is part of the national effort to save lives by preventing dangerous driving behaviors by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Commercial truckers are no exception. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has banned interstate truck drivers from reading or sending text messages and federal hours of service regulations aim to address fatigue, but carriers should take their own measures to ensure safety, avoid accidents and defend themselves in court.

Let’s take a look at the cost of distracted driving, common causes to be aware of and strategies to minimize distracted driving and maximize safety on the road.

Distracted driving is a leading cause of crashes and fatalities—well-documented training, cameras and telematics are essential ways to address the problem. Share on X

The Cost of Driver Distraction

Trucking companies have seen their insurance rates skyrocket over the past five years amid a rise in “nuclear verdicts”—or a jury award with a penalty of more than $10 million. Since 2018, the Claims Journal reports that trucking insurers have lost $1.8 billion due to continued pressure from plaintiffs’ attorneys targeting the industry.

 

Average verdict sizes spiked beginning in 2018. Source: Trucking Truth

Distracted driving is a common cause of lofty verdicts. For example, in April 2018, an Indiana jury awarded a motorist $16.5 million for sustained injuries when a truck rear-ended a passenger vehicle that was stopped at a red light. Approximately $7 million of the award was in punitive damages after the driver admitted to texting while driving.

In many cases, plaintiffs are less concerned about liability and more concerned about deficiencies in the system. Prosecutors often look for high CSA scores, hiring outside of guidelines and a lack of recurrent training programs. The goal is to both anger juries and hold carriers liable for larger dollar amounts for any safety-related shortcomings.

Tracking Driver Distraction

Most people associate distracted driving with cell phones, but distraction comes from a variety of sources. For example, a driver might be listening to loud music that takes it impossible to hear what’s happening on the road, or be so tired they can’t pay attention to the road. The common thread is that these activities distract the driver and cause preventable accidents.

Common sources of distraction include:

• Visual: Visual distractions cause the driver’s eyes to move away from the road. A common example is checking a missed call or text message on a cell phone.
• Auditory: Auditory distractions cause the driver’s attention to move away from the road. For example, listening to loud music or having multiple conversations.
• Manual: Manual distractions occur when the driver’s hands move away from the wheel, such as when reaching for food or drinks or operating electronics.
• Cognitive: Cognitive distractions happen when the driver’s mind wanders, and they are no longer focused. Driver fatigue is the most common source of cognitive distraction.

There are several hallmarks of distracted driving that increase risk:

• Following Too Closely
• Failure to Keep in Proper Lane
• Improper Lane Changes
• Hours of Service Violations
• Speeding Violations
• Driving Too Fast for Conditions

Carriers should be aware of the many different kinds of distracted driving, as well as hallmarks of these behaviors, in order to effectively address them.

Strategies to Minimize Distractions

Trucking companies should start by ensuring that they document and adhere to hiring requirements. For example, pre-employment screening programs, or PSP reports provide information about a candidate’s driving history. The use of PSP reports to make intelligent hiring decisions can reduce crash rates by 8%, according to the FMCSA.

The FMCSA’s PSP Website – Source: FMCSA

After hiring a driver, it’s equally important to document training protocols and develop effective training programs—including ongoing training and coaching. Managers, dispatchers and other personnel should also understand their roles in driver safety. For instance, they shouldn’t expect an instant callback or message if drivers are focused on the road.

Cameras and telematics play an important role in enforcing these policies while defending drivers and carriers if there’s an accident. For example, telematics can identify hard braking events before a crash occurs to retrain drivers on safe habits while a dual-facing in-cab camera or dash cams can help identify seat belt issues and potential distraction violations.

Of course, the challenge for many trucking companies is balancing the need for safety with operational efficiency. For example, asking a driver to pull over every time they need to read a text from dispatch can add up over time. The nationwide driver shortage has also made it difficult to be very picky when it comes to hiring top-tier drivers with a perfect safety record.

Ancillary Benefits of Technology

Telematics like Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) and dash cams can help prevent distracted driving, but they can also unlock a number of other important benefits.

Telematics solutions can help trucking companies identify unsafe driving behaviors such as hard braking, sudden accelerations and speeding incidents on the road. By quickly addressing these problems through incentive programs or retraining, fleets can reduce the risk of accidents as well as improve fuel economy, reduce wear and tear and operate at maximum profitability.

Telematic solutions used for trailer assets can also be invaluable when it comes to ensuring that cargo is safely transported from origin to destination. For instance, real-time temperature monitors can be installed in reefers to ensure that everything is staying within thresholds and in compliance. Temperature fluctuations can trigger alerts that get sent directly to dispatch to handle in the best way possible. Freight cameras and smart sensors for trailers can also provide additional safety and efficiencies for fleets.

In addition to improving driver and vehicle performance, GPS-enabled telematics can also provide real-time visibility into every asset. These capabilities can be incredibly helpful for coordinating deliveries, minimizing asset losses and ensuring the highest level of productivity across the entire fleet, including containers, trailers and tractors.

The Bottom Line

Distracted driving is a major problem for both passenger vehicles and commercial truckers. With the rise in nuclear verdicts, it has never been more important to ensure that you’re taking the right steps to maximize driver safety and defend yourself in court. These measures include everything from hiring practices to training protocols to on-the-road technologies.

Powerfleet provides a range of telematics solutions to help proactively identify and address distracted driving, including sensors to detect hard braking, sudden acceleration and speeding. Contact us today to learn more.