Ahead of Road Safety Week 2022 next week, Greville Coe (pictured), Managing Director at Radius Telematic writes this opinion piece for Highways News.
The theme for Road Safety Week 2022, kicking off on 14 November, is ‘Safe Roads For All’, bringing together communities and professionals to “shout out for everyone’s right to make safe and healthy journeys on safe roads.”
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the Government’s key focuses for road safety, including safe roads, safe vehicles, and speeds to keep everybody safe on the roads, no matter who they are, or how they travel.
According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), inappropriate speed contributes to approximately 11% of all injury collisions reported to the police and 24% of all fatal collisions. Meanwhile police incident records suggest fatigue is a factor in 2% of all crashes with some studies suggest that tiredness is a contributory factor in up to 20% of accidents.
The power of telematics
So, what can drivers do to play their part to avoid instances where incidents can occur? In particular, commercial drivers who spend the majority of their working week on the roads. This is where we at Radius Telematics, believe telematics can really help. The value of data in relation to streamlining operations resulting in cost savings are well known, but we also believe telematics can positively influence driver behaviour, which in turn has a positive impact on driver wellbeing and safety and making our roads safer for everyone.
A telematics device not only tracks a vehicle but can also provide reports on driver behaviour.
Before telematics, businesses were solely reliant on their drivers to understand the situation out on the road. Now, it is possible to see all vehicles from the office or via a mobile app. This means businesses can better understand the conditions drivers face and work together to improve them, which has real benefits for driver behaviours, wellbeing and ultimately road safety.
Kinesis and Kinesis Pro are two of Radius Telematics’ vehicle tracking solutions, for SME and large fleets respectively, that work to enhance driver performance. The software gives fleet businesses visibility on live locations, journey histories and speeding reports. It also offers invaluable insights into driver behaviour.
Training staff and drivers to improve their driving habits and drive in a safe and economical way can be a difficult task. With vehicle tracking products like Kinesis, you can get a simple overview of harsh acceleration, braking, speeding and cornering for each driver to encourage safe changes in performance.
Driver scores are then created to help businesses manage any specific risks to their business and drivers. It could sound a bit Big Brother-ish for drivers, but many have experienced the benefits for themselves.
Managing hours on the road
Also impacting positively on road safety, remote tachographs are a smart way to manage driving hours and safe driving limits. With drowsy driving being a leading cause of traffic accidents, it seems like this should be no brainer. You no longer need to have your vehicles present to be able to obtain tachograph data. Remote tachograph files allow businesses to gain detailed analysis on driving hours and safe driving limits and ensure they comply with the Working Time Directive guidelines and European Driving Regulations.
Keeping an eye on safety
Finally, dash cams are another essential tool that help keep drivers protected and other road users safe. Duel facing dash cams monitor both the road ahead and the driver at the same time to improve driving safety standards. They’re a useful way to deter mobile phone usage whilst driving, encouraging drivers to prioritise road safety.
Meanwhile multi cam systems ensure important areas around your vehicles are accessible and recorded, giving drivers complete visibility of pedestrians and other road users.
(Picture – Radius)
