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Technically Safer: Hitting the brakes on driver mishaps

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Technically Safer: Hitting the brakes on driver mishaps

Understanding and improving driver behavior often is atop a fleet manager's or risk manager's list when looking to mitigate exposures, and experts say advancing technology can play a vital role in that process.

With a host of driver aids ranging from in-cab cameras to telematic systems that can monitor anything from seatbelt to brake usage, technology can be used to improve driver behavior, but experts caution that it is not a cure for all bad habits.

“The driver is a lone worker out there,” said Dave Melton, director of transportation and technical consulting with the Boston-based Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety. “They're always remote, and without technology it is difficult to understand their driving behaviors and habits out there.”

Mr. Melton said he believes in using technology to help manage multivehicle commercial and trucking fleets, adding that devices that record incidents as they happen allow fleet and risk managers to establish an environment that enforces safe driving behavior and avoids difficult driving situations.

“I find that if technology is used well by managers that drivers tend to be more aware of their risky behavior and are more likely to correct it,” Mr. Melton said, adding that it is important to provide regular follow-up and feedback to drivers to ingrain good driver behavior.

According to the American Trucking Assn., crash and fatality rates have improved. The number of truck-involved crash injuries per 100 million miles has dropped 25% and the truck-involved fatality rate has dropped 22% since the Department of Transportation began keeping those records in 1975. Over the same period the fatal crash rate declined 66% and is now at its historical low, according to the ATA.

At United Parcel Service Inc., technology supports driver training, but it does not supplant it.

The Atlanta-based package delivery giant spends more than $50 million annually on training its drivers, making sure they increase driver proficiency and efficiency and reduce risks. With more than 100,000 drivers covering more than 3.3 billion miles globally, safety and efficiency is important, according to a UPS spokesman.

UPS uses a host of technologies ranging from a black box-type system to a driver simulation program to focus driver skills. The black box, the spokesman said, is similar to equipment used in aviation, but instead of recording conversations, it records events such as hard-braking incidents, when vehicles back up and seatbelt usage.

Prior to the using the system, which was installed in 2007, about 98.5% of drivers used a seatbelt. Today, driver seatbelt usage is “about 100%,” according to the company.

“When you're out there all day, day after day, you're just focusing on delivering and where the next delivery is going to be,” the spokesman said. “You can sometimes lose sight of things.”

To help sharpen drivers' focus, UPS encourages them to use what is know as the “triangle viewing method,” which encourages drivers to scan activity using side mirrors as well as the road in front of them. To ensure that drivers, particularly new drivers, use this method, UPS built a training facility dubbed “Clarks-ville” in Landover, Md.

The facility, which features a 3-D simulation that allows drivers to “drive” through the faux village of Clarksville to deliver packages, also offers webcasts and classroom work. During simulations, drivers' actions are recorded to ensure they are practicing good driving habits.

“The technology allows for a virtual ride,” said Emilio Lopez, fleet safety manager for UPS.

Using technology can save costs in the long run, said Nancy Bendickson, St. Paul, Minn.-based senior consultant with Chicago-based Aon Corp.'s global risk consultant group, who specializes in private and nontrucking fleets. However, due to the high cost of installing monitoring equipment into fleets, she said many of the companies she works with still are in the testing phase to see if they will get a return on their investment.

Some technology used by private mixed-vehicle fleets and tractor-trailers include anti-roll devices, which deactivate cruise control and activate brakes; lane departure warning systems, which signal if the vehicle veers out of a lane without driver control; closing-distance avoidance systems, which monitor how close a driver is to another vehicle; backing cameras; and electronic control module data systems, which are similar to UPS' black box units.

Many of the driving aids are becoming standard on some commercial trucks, particularly tractor-trailers, said David Mitchell, director of risk control and safety management with Aon's trucking division in Little Rock, Ark.

Still, Ms. Bendickson noted, the technology is not meant to replace a driver's duty to be safe while on the road.

“There can be too much reliance on technology and drivers can forget to do basic things like using their mirrors...so that's why driver training and follow-up driver training are necessary,” she said. “Ongoing training is needed to keep people engaged on key issues and ways to mitigate losses.”

Using technology is not always related to safety. For example, New York-based communications giant Verizon Communications Inc., has equipped 15,500 of its 50,000 vehicles with global positioning systems to offer quicker dispatching and route efficiency. This improves customer service and fuel efficiency, said Brian Helperbrandt, Verizon's fleet manager.

UPS has a similar system in place, which includes a routing system that maps delivery routes more efficiently. Taking it one step further, UPS drivers make only right-hand turns while driving routes, except when necessary, which Mr. Lopez said improves fuel consumption by cutting down idle time and reduces exposure to losses.

“Making left turns takes more time and raises the exposure for loss,” Mr. Lopez said.

“If you make right-hand turns only, you can shave minutes off of a route, improve fuel efficiency and you're not as exposed to a loss,” he said.