Benefits of vehicle telematic data systems
What are vehicle telematic data systems?
Fleet managers can see the benefits of these telematic systems as it enables early corrective action to be taken on driver performance and enhance driver safety protocols. Under these newer telematic systems, drivers will be able to access their own individual portals to enable them to monitor and gain insight into their own personal performance.
Paul Ripley of The Driving Doctor had this to say: “Without offering structured driver feedback and coaching techniques, the business case for using telematics loses pace and credibility,”.
The Driving Doctor has collaborated with transport psychology expert Professor Steve Stradling in the development of 27 behavioural change techniques which can address the poor attitudes and uncontrolled emotions of drivers.
Ripley describes the tiered messages to the driver as being “nearer to the stick than the carrot”.
“We measure their reaction to the messages to see what is working. If they do not improve then we will put them on to the campaigns, such as speeding or late braking."
“We also have gamification – video, articles and animations – which encourages and influences behavioural change by focusing on the human factors, the mental and emotional processes that are crucial to safe driving and efficient vehicle use.”
“It’s almost like counselling so we can understand their pressures,” “Then we put them on to the appropriate attitudinal course.
“These campaigns ensure consistency in content and learning for drivers of all ages and experience, based anywhere in the world and can be delivered in any language. They are designed to address aggressive, unsafe and inefficient driving behaviour triggered by emotions, actions and reactions behind the wheel.”
He added: “It works. We have trialled it on our own people and we are looking to do further trials with customers. It gets drivers out of the red zone and into amber and then into green.”
At the moment Ripley is targeting those fleets which already have telematic systems integrated. These companies up until now have struggled to manage the huge amount of data which flows from the onboard telemetry devices.
Other companies are somewhat reluctant to commit to telematics because they fear a data overload. This is where the new system comes in as The Driving Doctor can take data from any telematics provider and convert it into usable reports and maximises the behavioural feedback needed to educate drivers to be safer while out on the road.
The GPS company TomTom has become the first telematics provider to partner with The Driving Doctor.
TomTom’s Telematics strategic alliance manager, Tony Papas, described The Driving Doctor as “an industry unique proposition” that offered new opportunities to fleets.
“The combination of both platforms integrating and delivering real live data will assist in delivering excellent operational safety solutions matched with further ROI cost savings on the daily running of a fleet,”.
The price for fleets varies according to the number of drivers but will be no more than £10 per driver per month. The money could come from an existing training pot: Ripley believes his business eliminates the need for more conventional driver training and online assessments.
“I fail to believe that you can get driver attitudes and behaviours from answering multiple choice questions – it doesn’t work,” Ripley claimed.
“Telematics is an unbiased view of what the driver is actually doing on a daily or hourly basis. Safety is a mindset, not a skill set; it has nothing to do with learning how to steer a car. It’s about how you think and feel.”
Author
Justin Kavanagh
Justin Kavanagh is a recognised leader
in automotive intelligence and vehicle
data supply to the entire motor industry.
He has almost 20 years experience in
building systems from the ground up.
As the Managing Director of Vehicle
Management System, he understands the
need and importance of trustworthy and
reliable vehicle history and advice to
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