Why Your Fleet Needs Active Training Devices
(Device specific feature)
Problems Inherent With Driver Training Programs
I believe there are inherent problems that can negatively affect the very companies employing these programs regardless of how well intended or managed these programs may be.
Time Spent = Profits Lost
The first problem I can see is these programs and training will consume massive amounts of employee time in participation of these courses and seminars. Time is money and whether it is advertised and viewed as "productively" spent training and learning does not change the fact money losses in a business are always an expense and never an asset.
No Warning Mechanism
The second problem I can see is these programs do not take into consideration human nature as the effects or benefits may be realized when in training or when with instructors, but often it may not be verifiable that these problems are resolved until after some minor infraction in law or major calamity such as an accident. This means that although driver behavior problems may improve during the program, it is not a given that they will not revert back to their previous behavior and from what i have seen thus far, the mechanism some of these programs offer to catch this regression to their natural pre-tested and pre-training set of driving behaviors may be an actual accident, or to look at this from a more cynical perspective;
The first proof that the "safe driver" may need a refresher course or more intensive training may be an accident, the very thing most of these programs were designed to prevent in the first place.
Those offering these programs may suggest this is the exception to the rule, but when a driver may be operating a $100,000.00 rig transporting 20,000 gallons of fuel or other potentially toxic liquid, it does not take many "exceptions to the rule" to destroy your companies bottom linet, worse yet multi-million dollar lawsuits or EPA Hazmat mandated cleanups all because a few who passed the driver safety course gradually reverted back to their bad driving behaviors.
Unbiased Driving Evidence
The need for truly unbiased physical evidence is a basic one for any intelligent decisions or actions on the part of management.
While it was a good idea to offer the bumper sticker phone number campaign to the back of fleet or service vehicles, it may lack sufficient credibility as to whom is calling and what their motives or perception is. How often has a van or charter bus of college kids give an trucker the sign for pull down the air horn? A professional driver would ignore such immature behavior and then when they do not get what they want there is that bumper sticker phone number on the back of the truck and all those kids living off mommy and daddies cash with their cell phone in hand and time to kill. By the time the driver makes it back to the shop there are a number of complaints for some action he may have never taken.
No Management Oversight
While songs like "They call me The Breeze" or "Take this job and shove it" may not set the benchmark for responsible fleet driver cooperation in achieving management goals, it does give us a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg that is Fleet Driver Risk Management. So little of the actual problems may be addressed as much of the real issues are buried deep in the driver personalities that the need for reliable well-documented physical evidence is often a mandate before any empirical identification of the problems are evident.
For example almost all testing procedures I can think of that requires an instructor with the trainee introduce a teacher/student dynamic. There may be little difference if it is classroom based, online or one on one instruction. Regardless how causal and stress free the demeanor of the instructor to the trainee, the formal relationship is understood by both and the trainee responds accordingly. It is accepted or taken for granted that there will be a measurable accumulation of knowledge and enhanced level of driving skill from these classes.
What should not be taken for granted is that any driving program based on documentation, online or one on one training will effect the kind of enhanced driver safety we are striving for, and cause the driver to assimilate those learned traits and behaviors into their daily driving, if that driver believe this is a waste of their time and not a priority. Once said driver is removed from the artificial atmosphere of the classroom or the subordinate position of having his instructor training them, human nature will to some extent return to the normal behavior of that driver based on their mindset.
The only way I can envision of keeping any gains in the driver safety learned in a training class or program is to provide a mechanism for documentation of the driver actions that management can review and base their evaluations of the program effectiveness upon.
What is "Active Training"?
Active Training is an interactive process where the drivers are actively alerted when they exceed a preset parameter or vehicle operation threshold in order to remind and alert them that they may be doing something they have been requested to avoid or they may be operating the vehicle in an unsafe manor.
Active Driver Safety Training
In the Active Driver Safety Training, the system alerts drivers to preset limits on the vehicle operation that are set by the owner or a fleet manager/ administrator. These preset limits will alert drivers when they exceed the normal operation of the vehicles that have been predetermined.
Active Eco Driver Training
Most are aware that vehicles have MPG ratings that let you know how far the vehicle can go on a gallon of fuel. Many in the fleet management business can quote from memory several different ratings for their fleet vehicles. Do any of you know the minimum number of miles that same vehicle can drive on the same gallon of fuel if the driver really tries hard not to be efficient? That would be "0 MPG".
Do you know how fast a gallon of fuel can be burned up:
- Sitting in a parking lot with the A/C going to keep cool?
- Waiting in traffic that is not moving for 10-30 minutes at a time
- Waiting for customers to unload the vehicles?
- Waiting for callbacks from dispatch?
- Driving in first gear at high speeds hoping the engine overheats?
- Racing from light to light, and locking up the brakes for each stop?
- Running the engine all night to keep warm or cool while sleeping?
- Driving around with an additional 1,000 pounds of junk?
- Driving around with parking brake on?
- Driving twice the speed limits?
In a prefect world our vehicles might always reach their M.P.G. ratings, however the world is far from perfect and currently there is an abyss of reality between the goals of proficient eco-drivers and their means of getting there through formal training alone.
Active Driver Training Devices are the metaphorical bridge that permits, assures and proves that safe drivers can meet the Eco-Driver standards. Through discipline of driving behaviors, commitment to reducing fuel consumption, air pollution along with the active driver reminders and logged violations provide an interactive means to permit the driver to correct driving behaviors while it provides management documented proof of how the vehicles are being operated.
A few examples of the Active Eco-Driver Training:
- Should a driver abuse the freedom of no management oversight in the vehicle with them they may operate the vehicle at speeds that are greatly in excess of what is desired to be fuel-efficient.
- The "over-speed" alert lets the driver know that they are exceeding the maximum speed requested by the company or fleet manager.
- Should the drivers follow other too closely to other vehicles they often have to apply the brakes very hard to stop the vehicle quickly.
- The active alerts will remind the drivers they are operating in a manor that will hurt fuel mileage and document this as a violation of management Eco policy for later review. In addition to the safety hazard this may pose, it is a waste of all the fuel required to get that vehicle up to that speed and must of the fuel consumed by an engine is in the acceleration of the vehicle, so hard braking indicated insufficient space between vehicle and poor driver fuel conservation. This also causes a higher amount of air pollution as the vehicle is exceeding fuel-efficient operation parameters.
- Should the driver not accelerate gradually to conserve fuel and instead rapidly accelerate to get to an operating speed they are wasting fuel and contributing to pollution in an unnecessary manor.
- The active alerts will remind the drivers they are operating in a manor that will hurt fuel mileage and document this as a violation of management eco policy for later review.
By drivers active and enthusiastic participation in Eco-Driver behaviors, it is proven that significant fuel savings of as much as 25% are possible.
This means almost 1/4 of the air pollution from a vehicle can be eliminated with no modification the vehicle at all.
- Trained drivers are capable of saving their companies up to 25% of fuel costs.
- Trained driver are capable of reducing air pollution from their vehicle up to 25%
- Trained drivers have less accidents so less pollution from accidents cleanup
- Trained drivers less likely to cause spills from toxic chemicals, fuels
Skeptics require more than concepts and theory, we require proof in the form of verifiable scientific evidence that can be both demonstrated and understood by our fellow man. Vague claims and increased testing scores from classroom, or one on one driver training sessions lack weight the real business world where all that matters are results.
Active Eco-Driver Driver Training Devices can provide more $$$Green$$$ for the company and less pollution for us all.
