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Powered by AI, Surfsight AI-12 captures both the drive and driver behavior in real-time, providing fleets of all sizes with a powerful solution to enhance driver and fleet safety and reduce safety related costs.

Application will enable Fleet Managers to monitor driver activity helping with tachograph compliance.

Verizon Connect has announced the launch of a digital tachograph tool that shares information with fleet managers including driving times and rest periods.

A digital tachograph is a device that records speed, distance and driver activity; data, which when used correctly, can ensure European Tachograph regulation is adhered to.When this data is used with Verizon Connect's fleet management platform users can save time, improve processes and remain compliant, the firm says.

“One of the biggest challenges for fleet managers is helping drivers understand their tacho status so customers aren’t losing time and money by pulling drivers off the road to manually download tachograph files from trucks,” said Derek Bryan, EMEA vice president, Verizon Connect. “Digital Tacho Live View provides the visibility necessary to access driver data quickly and easily, helping managers make quick and informed decisions, produce more accurate plans and receive advanced warning of infringements.”

Derek Bryan outlines how field service organisations can protect their fleets from an increasing risk of theft... 

There’s little doubt that buying and maintaining a fleet of vehicles can be expensive, especially for small or medium enterprises. Aside from staff, fleet vehicles are one of the biggest overheads for a business. And not only that, they often store vital goods, tools or equipment, meaning their whereabouts, safety and security is crucial to business success.

Recently, criminals have targeted vans up and down the country, and late last year West Midlands Police revealed that van thefts had almost tripled. Statistics like this are particularly worrying for fleet managers, as losing just one van can have a significant effect on revenue, productivity and customer satisfaction. While thieves can’t always be stopped, there are steps that can be taken to help fleet managers better protect their assets and prevent criminal activity.

 

Vehicle tracking and geofencing

One way to help thwart thieves is to install a fleet management system that includes features to help keep track of your vehicles at all times. For example, live map features that can identify vehicles’ locations in near real-time and trace the exact route each one has taken. From this data, fleet managers can run detailed reports via intuitive dashboards to monitor key metrics such as speeding and exact distance travelled. In doing so, if a vehicle is stolen it can be quite simple to track where your van ends up. Information like this can be critical in helping the police to track down any stolen vehicle.

[quote float="left"]One way to help thwart thieves is to install a fleet management system that includes features to help keep track of your vehicles at all times[/quote]‘Geofences’, a virtual perimeter that’s set up around physical locations that can be labelled and categorised, are a good tool for this. Managers can use them to map out areas that have been targeted by thieves and ensure that drivers do not leave vehicles in these ‘at-risk’ areas.

In addition, a fleet manager can also geo-fence their drivers’ homes to track if a vehicle leaves the area outside of agreed working hours, reducing unnecessary fuel expenditure and inappropriate usage.

 

Intelligent driver identification and real-time alerts

Intelligent alert systems, usually put in place to monitor driver behaviour, can also be useful for stopping thieves in their tracks. Fleet managers can also equip vehicles with driver ID functionality by providing each driver with a unique key fob that connects with a key reader in each vehicle’s dashboard. This system ensures that only registered [quote float="right"]This system ensures that only registered drivers are permitted to start the van[/quote]drivers are permitted to start the van; if a thief manages to break-in and start the ignition, fleet managers receive an alert that the vehicle has been started by an unapproved driver and an alarm sounds in the cab, helping deter any further criminal activity.

Alerts can also be set up to send fleet managers notifications if their vehicle has been used outside of working hours. In doing so, any unusual activity can be picked up quickly and a potential theft can be identified in good time. With crime numbers rising, it suggests that the thieves might be getting smarter and is growing wise to the steps fleet managers are taking to protect their assets.

 

Energy and efficiency

The steps used to keep track of vans can also have many other benefits for businesses: from monitoring driver behaviour to cutting down fuel costs and shortening delivering times via route optimisation. By using the advanced mapping tools available, fleets can easily identify the most suitable driver to a certain job based on their vehicle’s size, proximity, assigned geo-fenced area, and the amount of working hours they have available. Doing so ultimately helps fleet managers save time and money, and creates greater clarity when it comes to allocating jobs.

While there is no such thing as a theft-proof van, making criminals’ jobs that more difficult helps to deter thieves and helps the police to track down stolen assets. It’s therefore advisable to invest in a solution that monitors your fleet around the clock and offers safety and savings benefits.

Derek Bryan is VP EMEA, with Verizon Connect

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Arden Wood Shavings, an animal beddings specialist, has renewed its fleet compliance and security systems contract with TruTac and sees improved vehicle safety ahead as TruChecks, the mobile driver inspection app, is added to the suite.

Arden has over 30 years’ experience of supplying wood shavings and sawdust bedding for a wide range of applications, including the poultry and equestrian sectors, dairy farming and for miscellaneous industrial businesses. Today, the company is one of the largest suppliers of its kind in the UK.

“With such an extensive product range and customers throughout the country,” explains Transport Manager Lee Parker, “our vehicle fleet is relied upon to deliver on-time while remaining efficient, safe and 100% compliant. To this end, TruTac’s unique software systems work in unison to enable close management and control of our transport assets and personnel.”

Available on Android, Apple and Windows operating systems, the app features a configurable check list which is easily used by the driver

Accordingly, TruChecks allows drivers to complete daily vehicle inspections quickly, accurately and without the need for manual form-filling. Available on Android, Apple and Windows operating systems, the app features a configurable check list which is easily used by the driver and automatically emailed to the office for data storage or remedial action if required.

 

“Thereafter,” adds Lee, “the checklists can be easily referenced for workshop maintenance and inspections at a later date. Really, it couldn’t be simpler.”

TruChecks also features enhanced graphics with easy-to-manage functions and the device captures all of the information required by VOSA inspectors.

Arden also use TruTac’s TruControl and TruTime systems. These provide automated digital tachograph analysis and fail-safe clocking of all drivers and employees. Data and reports for attendance and drivers’ hours are all web-based, and can be accessed via any internet connected device. All TruTac systems have user defined security access with encrypted passwords, automated reports and seamless integration to reduce administration.

“Basically,” concludes Lee, “the TruTac package allows us to keep tabs on each one of our 20 drivers and vehicles without the need to push paper and with very little margin for human error. As a former driver myself, I know what it used to be like. Now we can cover hours, analyse tacho information, debrief drivers and monitor infringements at the click of a button. That saves time, keeps us legal and above all, keeps our delivery fleet on the move!”

 

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It’s time the importance of vans to the UK economy was more widely recognised and that all companies, including service organisations, paid more attention to safety, quality and compliance, says Mark Cartwright, head of the Van Excellence programme at the UK’s Freight Transport Association.

The economic and social value of van LCVs, or van fleets, in delivering both GDP and essential services, and the way in which LCV users shape and enhance modern life in the UK is undervalued, says Cartwright. The Freight Transport Association has been campaigning to raise awareness of these vital tools in the UK economy since 2010, with its Van Excellence scheme.

Some interesting statistics emerged in the FTA’s 2015 Van Excellence Report. There are 3.6 million vans in the UK in 2015: 1.63 million are registered to companies, and 1.8 million to individuals. Van use in the UK is expected to almost double by 2040 compared to 2010.

Van ownership is diffuse, with only 9% of vehicles in the hands of the biggest operators. Hence, while the largest fleets in the market belong to those companies at the pinnacle of each sector, much of each sector’s work is done by progressively smaller sub-contractor fleets.

Many sectors in the UK economy, incuding field service are van-dependent - their principal economic activities could not be conducted without the use of vans. While LCVs are not therefore a direct source of wealth generation, they are a key facilitator of wealth generation.

 

The largest van-dependent sectors in the UK economy are construction, engineering and utilities, whose activities very often overlap in the development and maintenance of the national infrastructure; and the postal and parcels sector.

Only 205,000 people identify as ‘van driver’ in the UK’s Office of National Statistics on employment figures. Most van drivers identify with their core trade or activity and not as professional drivers. Nonetheless, driving is an essential part of their job and their skill set.

Regulation is not lacking in this area, but understanding and professionalism is. More regulation would be ill-suited to the extremely diverse range of operations in this market and the agility and versatility they require.

Operational challenges

All fleets suffer to some extent from the public perception of ‘white van man’. Few fleet managers feel there is any national or public recognition of the vital services carried out by their drivers, nor the economic and social value
underpinned by the vehicles they operate

LCVs are primarily used in non-transport businesses. This gives rise to many challenges for the business, the fleet departments involved, and the general public.

It is incumbent upon those running van fleets to protect the public safety and to fulfil their duty-of-care obligations to their employees. Driving is often the biggest work-related risk that their employees face.

To put this in context, police officers and fire fighters in the UK are less likely to die in the line of duty than they are on their journey into work each morning. This road risk extends, of course, to all road users, whether professional drivers or not. By training those who drive for work in roadworthiness and safe-driving practice, employers extend that greater safety into the wider community.

 

Major compliance challenges include:

• a lack of transport understanding among staff
• a lack of transport awareness among decision-makers
•   the failure of those highly aware of risk in another field to recognise
  driving as a work-related risk;
• the difficulties of managing a geographically dispersed fleet;
• a lack of recognition that driving is a professional activity.

Commercial challenges include:

• an intense focus on cost, exacerbated by the fact that the fleet is usually a cost centre and not a profit centre;
• the risk to their vehicles from fraudulent insurance claims;
• the difficulty in maintaining training benefits in sectors with a high turnover of drivers.[/unordered_list]

Despite the high standards of many van fleets, the UK van parc overall suffers from a lack of legal compliance, and from owners, managers and drivers who show a poor understanding of their responsibilities. Vans stopped by the Government’s DVSA enforcement agency show an 89% overloading rate, and a 50% first-time failure rate in the annual vehicle safety test.

Unlike the heavily regulated HGV sector, professional fleet-management is generally only found in the largest of van fleets. Without a statutory framework for management and without transport backgrounds or relationships, many
businesses are not aware of their compliance responsibilities.

FTA believes the sheer diversity of the business and operational models that vans support makes regulation an unwieldy tool for furthering safety. There is already comprehensive regulation which outlines the standards of roadworthiness, driver capability and driving practice in the UK, including statutory instruments such as the domestic drivers’ hours regulations, or the guidelines and mandatory rules of the Highway Code.

Corporate responsibility

The issue is not a lack of regulation but rather a frequent lack of operator awareness and understanding. Corporate fleet departments can also be isolated and misunderstood by the core businesses they serve. Professional fleet managers within non-transport environments make the following observations:

• The business, often from board level to drivers, lacks an understanding of legal compliance regarding vehicles.
• Many drivers have been trained in risk assessment for their core craft but do not recognise driving as a work-related risk.
• Drivers do not see driving as an important or skilled part of their job.
• Fleets are under extreme cost scrutiny, but often cannot convey to financial controllers the necessity of examining whole-life costs, efficiency or safety implications.
• LCV operations, however professional, also suffer the stigma of ‘white van man’ and a lack of public appreciation of their critical role in the UK economy and UK communities.

Modern life is brought to you by vans; safety, quality and compliance is delivered by Van Excellence.
Van Excellence is an industry-led audit scheme run by FTA on behalf of all LCV operators. The audit includes standards and methods of fleet management which its major members consider best practice. Van Excellence now has 103 accredited companies, covering 125,000 vehicles.

 

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