Keeping Drivers Safe Over the Holiday Season

With the arrival of the holiday season, celebrations are in full swing. And the U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has started their Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign to prevent drunk and impaired driving over the holiday. 

But according to the NHTSA’s 2014 Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers, the drunk driving rate is down. The survey involved administering anonymous drug and alcohol tests to volunteers recruited directly from the highways in all 50 states. Very few drivers (between one and nine percent) tested positive for any amount of alcohol, and even fewer tested as over the legal limit—a drop of 80% since the first Survey in 1973.

However, the survey indicates the use of marijuana and other drugs has increased, raising new concerns about driver attention span while under the influence of a drug, and the subsequent effect on road safety.   

Impaired driving, for any reason, is a problem, especially for drivers behind the wheel of a big rig. Companies that manage a fleet of vehicles can closely monitor each of their drivers’ behavior on the road by investing in GPS fleet management software with a safety feature.  This software can help fleet managers ensure their professional drivers are not contributing to dangerous driving practices.  

Teletrac Navman’s celebrated partnership with HERE, a mapping and location technology company, allows the Safety Analytics feature to draw on more on-the-ground detail than ever before. With HERE’s web API integration for stop sign and speeding metrics, Safety Analytics can indicate where stop signs are located and if a driver passes through a sign without stopping. With speeding, HERE’s integration allows users to gauge the posted speed limit of a location with the actual speed of the vehicle. Violations of these incidents are triggered on the map. The event is then recorded so that fleet managers can bring drivers back to the office to discuss areas of improvement, or take disciplinary action with the driver for the violation.

Safety Analytics gives fleet managers deep insight into how their drivers are performing on the road, where their vehicles are going, how fast their vehicles are operating, and ultimately if their driver’s behavior is putting the company and other drivers on the road in jeopardy.

Teletrac Navman customer, Poolman Inc., a large pool service company in Arizona with a fleet of 70 vehicles, created a monthly driver incentive program with the driver scores collected from Safety Analytics. The program helped Poolman drivers practice safe and smart driving habits. The company’s insurance also gave them a discount just for having the software installed.

As we progress through this holiday season, companies that invest in GPS fleet management software with a safety feature can catch impaired driving, prevent accidents, reduce costs, and dramatically improve safety across their entire fleet.

And that is something to really celebrate.