From large commercial fleets to just a few company vehicles GPS tracking devices can help reduce your insurance costs and reduce your company’s risk every time a fleet vehicle is out on the road.
Protect your fleet vehicles from bad drivers
It’s easy for a driver to say they are responsible and respectful driver but the real proof can be seen when their driving habits are being tracked.
Jack rabbit starts and hard breaking cause damage wear and tear to vehicles and can put drivers at risk of getting into an accident.
There are a number of GPS tracking devices like the fleetminder FM NxtG-V or the Platinum NxtG that can be installed into any vehicle along with a G-force/shock sensor that can monitor harsh acceleration and deceleration (hard braking). This data is sent along with GPS location data so you as a fleet operator know how each driver is operating their vehicle.
Speeding and over speed data, alerts and reports can be generated too.
The speed of the vehicle is also sent with its location and other data. This is typically at 3 minute intervals. To illustrate how this works:
RAW DATA
Driver in van #1: Date, time 11:07, GPS location point on Main Road 1, speed 70 km/h
Driver in van #1: Date, time 11:10, next GPS location point on Main Road 1, speed 79 km/h
Driver in van #1: Date, time 11:13, next GPS location point on Main Road 1, speed 81 km/h
From the raw data, if the speed limit on Main Road 1 is 70km/h you could see that they were speeding.
Now whilst the above raw data is what is sent to the Live Tracking system every 3 minutes, you don’t need to actually view the raw DATA.
You simply use the features of the Live Tracking system such as reviewing a past day and time, receiving alerts or generating a report.
Over speed alerts with GPS tracking device Live Tracking systems
Typically you would set the over speed to 110 km/h and then you can choose to receive a SMS text or email alert for any vehicle in your fleet going over that speed.
Generating over speed reports
As the data your fleet vehicles movements are logged in the Live Tracking system, you can simply run the “Over speed” report for any vehicle in your fleet for a period of time (e.g. for the month of July). The over speed report will show all the times the fleet vehicle was travelling over the set speed.
Reviewing speeding
You may only do this when a speeding fine is sent to you for one of your vehicles in your fleet. You can “go back in time” to view the speed of the driver using the GPS tracking device data on the Live Tracking system. For example:
Reviewing speeding on a particular date and time using a Live Tracking system
Identifying driver behaviour such as rough driving, harsh braking and acceleration and speeding will assist you in managing your drivers and protecting your fleet vehicles from abuse.
Reduce fleet vehicle theft risk
GPS tracking devices and the communication that they provide can reduce the chance that your fleet vehicles will be stolen using a number of protective technologies.
Tracking devices wired with RFID can stop unauthorised users from operating the vehicle.
Additionally, if a theft is attempted the GPS tracking device with two-way SMS communication can activate an alarm and disable the vehicle preventing it from being taken.
Car, van and heavy vehicle theft is a major problem in Australia, click here to view the latest national vehicle theft statistics.
Fleet vehicle recovery
GPS tracking devices provide assistance recovering your vehicle in the event of theft.
The on-board tracking devices allow you to set an alarm when the vehicle leaves a specific geographic area and to track the progress of the vehicle until it can be recovered.
Additionally, tracking device features can activate an engine electrical shut off command and stop the vehicle from traveling any further.
The next time you review your fleet insurance coverage with your company’s agent you will have the tools to reduce your costs and save your company money by installing GPS tracking devices in your fleet vehicles.