Fleet Driver Risk Management

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 line,  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.

Should that not be sufficient, Active Mobile Video systems are available that will permit E-mail alerts to be sent to the CMS operator, or to supervisor PDAs, Blackberries or cell phones, permitting those in charge to see a screenshot of the incident, then the system will create a server uploaded short video clip, and if this is not enough, the CMS operator or supervisor can Live View through the vehicle cameras and see what is going on and if desired open a 2-way communication with the driver to speak with them directly.

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.

This integration provides Professional Series Fleet Driver Risk Management at its best, providing multiple levels of management oversight, multiple data transmission methods and creating a network based Cellular Gateway that others in the company or who may need to know can access from remote locations.

Levels of Oversight Provided By "Active Mobile Video"

Active Mobile Video systems provide multiple levels of management oversight from simply reminding the driver they are doing something unsafe to alerting management and opening a Live View with 2-Way communication.

Active Driver Alerts

This is as simple as a audio alert to the driver to remind them they have exceeded a preset threshold of driving parameters. Common examples would be speeding, hard turns, hard braking, over idling.

E-mail Alerts to CMS Operator

The next level of oversight provided will be alerts to the CMS Operator, so they may now be aware of the incident or driver behavior.

E-mail Alerts to Supervisors

The next level of oversight provided will be alerts to the supervisor who may be in the field, so they may now be aware of the incident or driver behavior via PDA, Blackberry.

E-mail Screenshots to Supervisors

The next level of oversight provided will be screenshots to the supervisor who may be in the field, so they may see a screenshot of the incident or driver behavior via PDA, Blackberry.

E-mail Video Clip Links to Supervisors

The next level of oversight provided will be video clip links via E-mail to the supervisor who may be in the field, so they may watch the video file of the incident or driver behavior via PDA, Blackberry.

Live View With 2-Way Intercom

Once events have made it to a level that is either life threatening or simple requires management to take a very active role this can be achieved by directly viewing what is going on in the vehicle and in front of it by Live View and then a 2-Way communication can be opened with the driver to ascertain what problems may be evident and who to best resolve them in a safe manor.

This is Professional Series Fleet Driver Risk Management at its best, providing multiple levels of management oversight, multiple data transmission methods and creating a network based Cellular Gateway that others in the company or who may need to know can access from remote locations.