The most dangerous thing many workers do is to drive a vehicle in their employer’s fleet. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is still gathering data on 2016, estimates more than 17,775 motor vehicle fatalities occurred in the first half of 2016, a 10% increase from 2015. According to the NHTSA, while fatalities in crashes involving large trucks fell in 2014 — the most recent year for which such data is available — injuries spiked 17%, to 111,000. There is definitely room for improvement in fleet safety.
Telematics is a relatively new approach to reducing commercial vehicle accidents. Telematics programs use mobile technology to monitor and track driver behaviors, such as sudden stops, acceleration and speeding, as well as time of use and location. The data can indicate problem behaviors and conditions — or unauthorized activities — that require correction or adjustment.
There are at least three key benefits to using telematics in fleet vehicles:
- Reduced risk of injury and death. Increasing safety on the roadways reduces accidents, saves lives, and lowers costly property damage and liability.
- Preservation of financial resources. Successful telematics programs can save money for fleet owners as well as their insurers. Over the long term, loss control investments pay off in the form of reduced premiums.
- Improved operational efficiency. Tracking and monitoring vehicle data provides fleet owners insights on all sorts of operating practices, especially inefficient ones. For example, when a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) company in Florida implemented telematics in its fleet of 350 service vans, managers were surprised to learn that 85% of technicians left company vans idling, to stay cool during service calls. Changing that practice saved the HVAC company an enormous amount of fuel expense.
Pilot program. We at Amerisure strongly believe that applying the right data in the appropriate places can help businesses to make better-informed decisions. That is why we are conducting a two-year pilot program with a telematics partner, GPS Insight, to let fleet owners try out this technology at reduced cost. Tracking units typically are either hard-wired or plugged into the onboard diagnostic (OBD) port, in vehicles so equipped. The cost per unit varies, but commonly is at least $25, not including installation, which can add up. But the return on investment with telematics is high.
This program, FleetConnect, will give fleet owners a chance to share the costs of using telematics while exploring the benefits, without obligation. Amerisure is not asking participants in the pilot program to share their telematics data. Instead, the pilot program is an opportunity to demonstrate the advantages and return on investment that telematics can offer to policyholders over the long term.
For more information on how businesses can implement successful telematics programs and reduce their commercial automobile risks, please check out these other articles on Amerisure Insights.
