GreenRoad Central mobile app for drivers runs on both Android and iPhones and is available for free in the app stores as “GreenRoad Central.”  Drivers simply download the app and log in with their GreenRoad account information.  If drivers don’t know their GreenRoad login information, you can find instructions for retrieving it in GreenRoad Central – just click the “Engage Portal” link in the top navigation.     

Response from drivers in our beta program has been terrific.  The refrain we’ve been hearing again and again is that it’s “easy to use” – a quick, simple way to stay engaged with GreenRoad.  What higher praise could we ask for?  A favorite feature is the team rank.  As one driver said, “knowing my position within my depot makes me try harder to achieve top ten.”

A question that’s probably on your mind: “when is the manager app coming out?”  It’s in development right now, so stay tuned.  In the meantime, if you’re both a manager and a driver, you can use the app to check out your own driving performance – and maybe pick up a tip or two.

With more and more drivers switching to smartphones, GreenRoad’s mobile app for drivers is an important piece of our Connected Fleet vision.  More to come.

 Contact us to find out how GreenRoad can help your fleet.

The safety score is shown as the number of events per 10 hours of driving – so, if you have a score of 20 or less in a ten hour period you will be a green driver, a score of 21 to 50 unsafe maneuvers per ten hours means you will be rated as amber and anything over 51 means you will be classed as a red driver.

Why do we use the number of events per 10 hours? Easy really, it’s because it doesn’t matter if you have done 15 hours of driving in one week of 60 we have a level playing field with which we can compare you. A score over a period of time is a good indicator of regular driving performance as opposed to a score per hour which could easily vary if the driver collects a number of events in a short period of time – which could be an anomaly and not their usual performance.

To get your current score, we don’t just look at the last 10 hours, we look at your last seven days of driving.  As the score is updated once a day, this is a rolling seven day period, so, to calculate your score, we simply take all the risky maneuvers you have done during that time, divide it by the number of hours you have driven and then multiply it by ten to give us a score per 10 hours of driving.

The whole idea is to enable drivers to quickly and simply see how they are performing and be able to easily compare their score against that of their peers.

Click to contact us to find out more about how GreenRoad can help your fleet today.

A Fatigue Management plan is a written, and employee acknowledged, document that provides information on the organizational commitment to combat driver fatigue. The employee acknowledgement demonstrates their commitment to the organizations policies and understanding of their duty to take reasonable care of their safety and health in the workplace.

A fatigue Management Plan includes:

• Policies for scheduling employee work time
• Policies that specifically defined  “fitness for work” that include
  • alcohol and drug policies,
  • access to medical and other appropriate assistance
  • authorization for staff to make alternative arrangements when a driver is not fit for duty
  • Education content and process for drivers in fatigue management
    • Train and ensure all new hires, employees, contractors and managers understand the meaning of fatigue and have the knowledge and skills to practice effective fatigue management.       
    • Check employee/supervisor understanding of the corporate plan and policies
    • Check employee/supervisor  knowledge of the risk factors affecting fitness for duty
  • Follow a fatigue incident management plan for addressing and documenting events relating to driving or other work activities due to fatigue
  • Establish and maintaining appropriate workplace conditions.
    • Ensure managers and supervisors understand how to establish safe systems at work
    • Ensure  understanding and application of the driver fatigue training
    • Review training on a regular basis
    • Provide all managers, supervisors and employees with information on the fatigue management plan when it is revised.

This is the last in our series of posts on driver fatigue, which we hope you have found useful. 

Click here to read the previous posts in this series and contact us to find out how GreenRoad can help your fleet.

1. When bidding on new business, use GreenRoad as proof of your organization’s commitment to safety.  Some customers even take their prospective clients out for a “test drive” with a GreenRoad driver to showcase how the service works.
2. Share GreenRoad information in your company newsletter or other marketing collateral.  For example, one GreenRoad user is promoting the use of the Idle Management feature as a commitment to helping the community achieve eco-standards.
3. Consider passing on GreenRoad cost savings to your customers.  Another GreenRoad user is able to consistently beat competition on pricing because GreenRoad keeps fleet operating costs below industry averages.  This company considers GreenRoad a “secret weapon” in a very competitive environment.

With on-going challenges in the business environment, it makes sense to use your driver performance and safety management service as a marketing tool.  Current and future customers will appreciate knowing you’re making every effort to have the best drivers on the road.

Click to contact us to find out more about how GreenRoad can help your fleet today.

The typical driver travels between 12,000 to 15,000 miles annually, and has a one in 15 chance of being involved in a vehicle collision each year.¹ Corporate fleet drivers double that mileage and their exposure to crash risk. As a group, road-warriors have one of the highest crash rates. It is not unrealistic to see over twenty percent of the vehicles being involved in an incident on an annual basis. A motor vehicle accident is the most likely fatality for these workers. ²

A fleet vehicle crash is the most costly worker injury claim averaging over $21,000 per incident when all associated costs are considered.³ Most organizations are self-insured to some degree so the company absorbs much of the direct burden of these costs. Sales organizations must work that much harder to make up for the lost revenue incurred from the avoidable expense of a crash.

Most organizations have exhausted the effectiveness of traditional new hire review and ongoing MVR analysis, “after the crash” intervention, risk scoring, and training approaches. These organizations have reached a safety plateau.  The promise of incremental crash reductions from recent technology advances –  in-vehicle video and GPS tracking technologies – have been unrealistic in this market due to the respect for privacy required in these personal use vehicles exacerbated by the disruption in the corporate culture and workforce.

Studies indicate that personality and behavior is a significant contributor to being in an accident.⁴    The next major, sustainable, reduction in organizational crash rates is going to come by changing the behavior exhibited by drivers while they are behind the wheel. Behavior and attitude are choices that people make. Reducing the likelihood of being involved in an accident requires real-time interaction with the driver – constantly reinforcing safe driving behavior. GreenRoad provides that service to the driver.

Cost savings have not come from the promise of alternative fuel vehicles or fuel efficient hybrids. Competing with high retail demand has made fleet allocations sparse, and acquisition costs high. An ambiguous infrastructure to support these vehicles has resulted in indeterminate overall life-cycle cost. Many fleets are questioning whether the high acquisition and questionable life-cycle costs offset any cost savings achieved from fuel expense reduction.  Regardless, a good procurement strategy, while important, does not strike at the heart of the true fuel challenge – consumption. Changing consumption requires changing the pattern of driving behavior. Studies have demonstrated a 25% savings in terms of fuel and emission reduction (CO2) can be achieved when driving behavior is changed. ⁵ Green, or “eco-friendly”, driving means drivers only have to make small changes to have a high impact on fuel economy without increasing travel time.  Changing fleet driver behavior is reminiscent of the old joke “how many sociologists does it take to change a light-bulb, well, first the light-bulb needs to want to change”.

Again, similar to safety, driving maneuvers that impact fuel consumption are directly influenced by behavior choice. GreenRoad provides an incentivized environment for the driver to change behavior that impacts consumption. GreenRoad empowers the driver and provides a tool that encourages the right behavior which translates into optimal fuel economy for every mile driven.

Summary

Solutions such as GreenRoad provide the opportunity to reduce both the frequency/severity of crashes and the fuel consumption of fleet vehicles in an approach that is driver inclusive. GreenRoad also combines the concepts of safety and “eco-friendly” driving in an unobtrusive product that is easy to implement, use, and maintain, whilst fitting the unique challenges of enforcing corporate driving goals on professional fleet drivers. A professional driving tool, GreenRoad specifically interacts with the driver in real-time – encouraging them to make “eco-friendly” driving a daily competency.  The solution includes the management oversight and reporting tools to continue to incentivize correct behaviors as well as providing the ability to identify under-performers. When drivers begin working with GreenRoad they instantly see the number of extreme, and personally risky, maneuvers they make while driving – and are given the tools to eliminate those maneuvers. Within 30 days drivers bring a new eco-friendly driving attitude to every mile driven. GreenRoad is an unbiased, non-privacy-invasive, professional coaching tool that is first and foremost for the driver. When drivers begin working with GreenRoad good things happen for them, the environment, and the companies they work for.

Contact us to tell us about your sales organization, or for any questions on how GreenRoad can help your fleet.

¹National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Traffic Safety Facts Report, 2001.

²Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2000 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 2001.

³Safety + Health, Oct. 2001: 12.

⁴British Journal of  Psychology. 1993 May;84 ( Pt 2):207-19

⁵Vehicle Environmental Engineering Ford Europe, Ford Eco-Driving

How can you as managers help influence your drivers so they make a permanent change in their behavior? 60% of any change projects fail to achieve their business case because of a lack of buy-in. By engaging and working with your drivers and understanding the key elements involved in change, you can avoid being the 2 out of 5 change projects that fail.

Over the next seven weeks, we will be looking at seven key areas that can help you encourage successful change within your organization.

1)      Expect Resistance– You should always expect resistance and plan for it from the start of your program. If you have planned for it and you understand the most common reason people object you have the opportunity to address this in your strategy. The most common reason people object to change is fear on the unknown. Understand this and work with people and you remove the obstacle.

I will be back with more next week.

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3. Recommendations:

• Support a culture of awareness and training about the risks, predictors, and symptoms of driving fatigue. Induction training and ongoing information and training should include health management topics to increase drivers’ awareness and understanding of the impact that their health and lifestyle can have on fatigue.
• Deliver awareness campaigns of the impact of activities such as a second job, other driving, recreational activities, sport, insufficient sleep, stressful situations, and the consumption of alcohol and other recreational drugs or medication on their well-being and capacity to work effectively. These activities may affect their state of fatigue, especially cumulative fatigue, and capacity to drive safely.

• Include permissive measures for employees to alert management that they are at risk, or experiencing symptoms of fatigue.
• Evaluate work schedules and be cognizant of employees subject to night and early morning driving.
• Create the awareness that employees coming off night, or long shifts, must have the opportunity to recover any sleep loss before returning to work.
• Institute a fatigue management plan of policies and best practices that are communicated and understood within the organization.

Click here to read the previous post in this series.

 “Thanks to the information available through GreenRoad, we also have intangible benefits such as engaging more closely with drivers. An improved understanding of what is happening out on the road has enabled us to build a closer relationship with drivers and ensure that safety is now at the top of the agenda.”

We also received a sneak preview of the GreenRoad Product Roadmap from our VP Product Marketing; Karen White and internal experts Mark Hampson and Chris Deakin discussed Change Management and GreenRoad Best Practise respectively.

This was an incredibly useful day for all, but in particular for us GreenRoaders.  It is listening to the feedback and point-of-view that we receive from our customers and other fleet experts that ensures we remain leaders in our field and continue to deliver the best service we can.

For example, our SVP Marketing; Tanya Roberts heard that sometimes one of the biggest challenges facing new GreenRoad customers is getting the more “senior” drivers on board.  Often someone who has been driving for more than 20 years doesn’t see the value of technology that provides real-time, in-vehicle driving feedback.  This challenge was one of many discussed at the User Group.  Sam Mannion, Business Support Manager of Northern Gas Network has a brilliant solution.

Northern Gas tasks the “senior” technicians to mentor the more junior apprentices.  Sam asks the more tenured drivers who are resistant to GreenRoad point blank:

“Would you be able to stand by and watch one of your new apprentices do something dangerous while they are working on a gas line?  Could you really look the other direction and just hope they don’t injure themselves?”  She then goes on, “That’s how it is with me.  I can’t ignore your driving.  We want you to get home safely.” 

Needless to say, that perspective gets the “senior” drivers right in line.  The next day their GreenRoad driving scores are green.

Click here to contact us and find out how GreenRoad can help you today.

2. Transition to Recommendations

So – what about the percentage of the workforce who spend a significant portion of their working week behind the wheel?  For fleets that don’t have the same regulations and practices of the commercial transportation market some suggestions follow:

Drivers have a limited ability to predict when they will fall asleep and by continuing to drive when sleepy, they place themselves and others at great risk of a serious crash. Controlling fatigue requires cooperation between employers and employees. There are early warning signs when a person is sleepy – drivers should be trained on these signs and have company supported counter-measures so drivers do not ignored signs when driving.

Driver drowsiness awareness indicators need to include:

• A drowsy/sleepy feeling;
• Blurred vision;
• Difficulty keeping eyes open;
• Head nodding;
• Excessive yawning; and
• Repeatedly drifting out of lane.

Factors that are predictive of driver fatigue include:

• not feeling refreshed after sleep;
• a greater tendency to fall asleep while at work;
• more frequent naps during leisure hours;
• feelings of sleepiness;
• extended sleep during days off; and
• increased errors and loss of concentration at work.

Drivers need to be aware that using the radio, air-conditioning, or other “tricks” to stimulate alertness, has limited effect and will not overcome tiredness. Stimulants, like caffeine, will provide a temporary boost but do not reduce the need for sleep. Sleep that is delayed will need to be made up later.

Nest week we will look at some recommendations on how to deal with driver fatigue in the workplace.

Click here to read the first post in this series.

At least, that is what the initial results would suggest, with drivers in the US having an average safety score of 5 and their UK counterparts having an average score of 8. So what causes the differences? Are UK drivers really worse and what is the data actually telling us?

In reality, the difference in scores has more to do with the difference in fleet types that operate using GreenRoad in each country. In the UK, there are a lot of bus and coach fleets operating in urban environments with a higher exposure to risk as they negotiate their way through city traffic, constantly stopping to pick up and drop off customers. This explains why braking accounts for 43% of all events and why speeding only accounts for 2%. Corner handling also accounts for 39% of all events in the UK which, too, is a result of the urban environments with drivers having to negotiate tight bends, tricky junctions and, of course, roundabouts, which are not very common in the US! 

In the United States, fleets tend to cover a number of different industry types, driving in urban, suburban and rural environments, with more opportunity to speed which is why this factor accounts for 40% of all events.

What’s important though is that it doesn’t matter what level drivers start at, it’s the fact that they are continuing to improve the way they drive.

Click here to download the full benchmark report.