Proactive Driver Alerts Welcome in a New Era in Safety

Drivewyze Inc. introduces Safety+, a new safety service that brings the industry’s first customizable “proactive” driving alerts and “context-based” driver coaching features to commercial truck drivers and fleets.

5m3photos Adobe Stock On The Road
5m3photos.stock.adobe.com

Drivewyze Inc. introduces Safety+, a new safety service that brings the industry’s first customizable “proactive” driving alerts and “context-based” driver coaching features to commercial truck drivers and fleets.

Drivewyze Safety+ requires no additional in-cab hardware and is delivered through the Drivewyze software platform available on over 2.2 million ELDs today. The new service builds on the existing Drivewyze Safety Notifications service -- which warns drivers, through audible and visual cues -- of approaching areas where caution is required. Safety+ adds powerful new back office tools for fleets to create their own customized driver alerts, plus offers safety analytics to monitor driver behavior and improve driver coaching.

Based on Drivewyze’s patented context-based driver coaching technology, Safety+ leverages real-time in-cab notifications and driver behavior at high-risk areas and analyzes driver performance to identify best-of-class drivers and those that require additional training. Safety+ is available as a stand-alone safety service or can be integrated into a fleet’s existing driver safety platforms. 

“This provides a fleet with powerful, proactive in-cab notification tools before a crash or violation occurs,” said Brian Heath, president and CEO of Drivewyze. “Safety+ fills a gap in our industry by providing customizable in-cab safety notifications and a hardware-free driver coaching service accessible and affordable to fleets of all sizes. We improve road safety where and when drivers need it most. And, we give fleet managers actionable intelligence on how drivers respond to in-cab alerts – allowing for results-oriented driver training.”

Heath said it’s an entirely new way of thinking, by both helping drivers through real-time in-cab training and providing safety managers with context-based data analytics. “It can help prevent speeding infractions, by warning a driver on an upcoming ‘high-citation zone,’ and provide an alert for an upcoming high-rollover corner – those are just two of many trouble zones responsible for impacting crash rates and CSA scores. What’s more, managers can easily create their own alerts for their own trouble zones. And, at the end of the day, Drivewyze Safety+ even lets your drivers know the number of parking spaces available at an upcoming rest area in select states.”

According to Heath, numerous fleets beta-tested Drivewyze Safety+ and the reaction was “extremely positive. It confirmed that this type of proactive service is needed,” he said.

“I can’t recommend Safety+ enough,” said Derek Ohata, C.R. England’s senior director of compliance. “Not only does it allow me to take control of in-cab safety messaging, it gives me access to fleet-wide and driver-specific safety insights and proactive driver-coaching tools.”

“The alerts and our reporting system work,” said Heath. “With our proactive speed alerts, we are seeing a 27% reduction in speeding events (for those truckers going at least 5 mph over the speed limit). Safety managers appreciate not having to sort through mountains of false-positive data associated with traditional services that use non-contextualized event data.

“Safety+ offers a simple, integrated approach to driver monitoring and coaching,” Heath continued. “It combines driving data at the riskiest locations with real-time in-cab driver training for safety managers wanting a turnkey solution or to augment existing safety programs. Our alerts can help prevent unsafe driving practices from happening in the first place. The results of targeted intervention are compelling. In a two-year study with a major trucking company involving thousands of trucks, alerts for high rollover curves resulted in speeds being reduced by 17%.  In addition, data showed that unsafe drivers identified by Safety+ were 400% more likely to be in an accident than their peers.”

Risk Zone Alerts: All of the Drivewyze alerts were developed in relationship with state and provincial safety agencies. It enabled the company to curate a unique set of high-value safety zones – more than 2,500 high-risk areas in all that typically give truckers problems. More sites will be added each month.

Proactive Speed Alerts: Based on cumulative citation history from law enforcement, these alerts warn drivers that are driving too fast in known high-citation areas to slow down -- improving driver behavior and averting a possible speeding ticket.

Custom Zones: Easily configured in the Drivewyze HUB portal, fleet managers can identify and geo-fence their own high-risk areas or other areas of importance to deliver custom in-cab messaging.  “It can alert drivers of known areas with high-crash rates, violations, or security-related risks within the fleet,” said Heath. “Or it can remind drivers about restrictions when entering yards, road closures, even deliver temporary notifications along fleet routes. Our customers have complete control over custom alerts, and unique in-cab messaging.” 

Dynamic Parking Alerts: Initially available in nine states, with more expected to come on-board soon, these alerts provide in-cab messaging with the actual number of parking spots available, in real-time, so drivers can make the decision to continue on to the rest area, or look for alternative parking.

Drivewyze Safety+ also provides drivers with the full suite of safety alerts that are included in the standard Drivewyze Safety Notifications service. Those include alerts for high rollover, low bridges, and mountain corridors (giving notifications to use low gears, check brakes, while also providing alerts on upcoming runaway ramps), and more.

Insight: Drivewyze Safety+ builds on in-cab alerts with targeted and actionable driver behavior analytics. Safety+ generates data-rich information that can be mined and put to use as a stand-alone service or integrated with existing safety programs. “Through the Drivewyze HUB, managers can determine how a particular driver is reacting to the safety notifications, plus review the aggregate – seeing how the entire driver pool is progressing,” explained Heath. “Who are the best performers? Who needs some coaching? It’s all in the HUB dashboard.”

Drivewyze Safety+ is available through Drivewyze ELD partners, or on tablets and smartphones, and is available as a standalone service or as part of a bundle with Drivewyze PreClear weigh station bypass service. Information from Drivewyze Safety+ can be integrated into existing safety programs via a full set of reporting APIs. 

Latest