Fleets are rapidly deploying video solutions, finally convinced of their benefits, and Trimble is one of the companies benefiting from this.
After 20 years, Lytx has found itself evolving much in the same way that fleets and society at large have. Founded in 1998 as DriveCam, the company has transitioned into a data business providing insights unthinkable just a few years ago.
Down Under Trucking: a round-up of news, information and the latest developments from the Australian trucking industry. Top news this week is the announcement of a A$2 billion (US$1.4 billion) road safety funding package by the Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison. Funding was a big theme this week, as was driver safety, road safety and fatigue.
The top five riskiest half square-mile road stretches of 2018.
The road can be a dangerous place when severe weather hits.
These half-mile stretches of road are the most dangerous in Florida, according to Lytx.
Technologies can help prevent rollovers, but a new startup company believes influencing driver behavior is the best approach to preventing rollovers.
Cell phones and driving don’t mix, but that doesn’t stop people. These are the roads where you’re most likely to find people texting and driving.
In partnership with Reliance Partners …Fleet safety needs to be looked at as a part of operations and not as an addendum, as initiatives like video safety can help reduce driver turnover and mitigate the impact of litigations that arise due to collisions, both from a cost and a time perspective
Ryder System, Inc. (R: NYSE) presented its Service Excellence Awards to top-performing carriers at its ninth annual Mexican Carrier Recognition Event in Mexico City on January 17. The event – reported in a press release by Ryder on January 29 – recognized 20 Mexican carriers for their excellence in service in Ryder’s international supply chain.
Investing in public transportation would significantly reduce casualties due to accidents and also cut down carbon emissions, especially in urban spaces.
Australia’s National Heavy Vehicle Regulator has warned that grot and grime can obscure damage to parts during visual inspections; fatigue fractured leaf springs caused the death of truck driver Stephen Ross Brown.
Driver detention has been causing headaches and lost wages for years, but the ELD mandate has shone a spotlight on the issue like never before. For the first time, carriers have the data to back up what they have always known.
A former NTSB executive tells FreightWaves that “perishable information” critical to freight accident investigations is at risk of disappearing.
The advent of modern communications technology such as, obviously, the mobile phone, has created a new, yet poorly understood and under-researched, form of driver distraction. Australian road authorities are calling for research and are updating their road rules.
There’s been a significant increase in commercial motor fatalities over the past couple years. We look at some of the causes.
Because of the now record-breaking partial government shutdown, the U.S. aviation industry is beginning to feel the consequences of lapsed federal funding.
Fleets are increasingly turning to video to help exonerate drivers of wrongdoing and finding that a side benefit is the coaching opportunity video provides to improve risky driving behaviors.
Downhill driving presents particular safety risks to truck driving. Australian law requires truckers to shift to a lower gear and not use the primary brake for the descent. National telematics body Transport Certification Australia has launched a new app that records the details of the descent for the purposes of improving safety and creating an audit trail. (Photo: Shutterstock).
The roads are getting slick out there! Here’s a reminder of what to look out for.
Communicating safety is not always the easiest message to deliver. From drivers to executives—and everyone in between—safety is the core of your company culture and values. How you communicate your safety message is paramount to ensuring that everyone embraces your safety message and that it’s at the heart of every action they take. Download the eBook and learn how to sell safety in your fleet.
After a series of high-profile scandals involving the dumping of asbestos-containing waste on Sydney streets, the local authorities have welcomed a series of guilty pleas and court-imposed jail time on offenders. Meanwhile, the authorities have increased the value of fines and lengthened jail sentences for transport-related asbestos crimes.
Bison Transport operates twin 53-foot trailers in Canada, and generally has lower rates of incidents than with single trailers.
Some roads are a little more treacherous than others. When it comes to trucking accidents, these nine roads are at the top.
FreightWaves adds a real time news widget with twitter feeds and up to the minute financial and transportation new reporting.
In partnership with Reliance Partners …This week we offer specific ways to focus on air systems, electric and controls, and wheel ends.
FreightWaves adds commercial vehicle accident injuries and fatalities in SONAR as well as adds regions to the TRI.
As any driver knows, parking is at a premium at truck stops, even during the middle of the day. A new survey is being conducted to get an update on the current parking situation.
Spireon hosted a webinar in collaboration with FreightWaves earlier this week to explore the importance of building a fleet safety culture and how to do it the right way.
The webinar is planned for 2 p.m. EST or 11 a.m. PST on Thursday, Nov. 15.
In partnership with Reliance Partners …Think you’re well acquainted with the fundamentals? Safety is about more than just good planning and communication.
Fatigue is one of the most common health and safety concerns among drivers on the road, and while sleep loss often plays a role in feeling fatigued, counting hours doesn’t always tell the whole story.
In partnership with Reliance Partners …The company’s patent-pending approach is differentiated by its reliability, low power consumption, and what they call seamless integration.
We pull public safety statistics from the ASCE’s 2017 Infrastructure Report Card in our latest Infographic.
In partnership with Reliance Partners …A Canadian research team is trying to better understand factors that impact driver’s health, safety, and wellness.
The latest on legislative, regulatory, administrative, and enforcement issues across the industry.
Netradyne, a startup that uses computer vision to understand and improve driver behavior, has raised $21 million in its Series B funding, led by Microsoft’s venture arm, M12.
In partnership with Reliance Partners …Learn how truck drivers can be more proactive about safety on the roadways in light of the recent increase in fatal crashes.
Fatalities in all other types of accidents were down. Crashes involving large trucks were the only one moving the other way.
FreightWaves adds additional risk management and compliance information in the most recent SONAR release.
It’s taken several years, but the eight biggest manufacturers of rear underride equipment now get the top grade from the IIHS.
With ELDs in nearly every truck, it was only a matter of time before insurance companies started to utilize the devices. Progressive is among the first, launching a new discount program for truckers that provide Progressive access to their ELD data.
Retention, training, and the capacity crunch are undeniably hot button issues in 2018, and, in response, SmartDrive and FreightWaves collaborated to distribute a survey to uncover trends in driver incentive programs.
Schneider National has a Crisis Communications Team that is responsible for planning the safety of employees, equipment and customer freight during hurricanes and other adverse weather situations. Here is some of what they have learned.
In partnership with Reliance Partners …If you help drivers identify necessary alternate routes ahead of time you make drivers safer, and you make drivers happy. And if drivers are happy, everybody’s happy.
In partnership with Reliance Partners …The idea that technology will save lives is exciting on the one hand. On the other, just how seamless will the technology be? Will it be optional or mandatory?
If there is just one word that can best sum up the official Listening Session on hours of service (HOS) that FMCSA held on Friday at the Great American Trucking Show, it would be flexibility.
FMCSA has agreed to implement a series of actions as it works toward the possible implementation of a more data-driven to identifying at-risk carriers for intervention.
The idea behind the new training program is to work with the drivers involved in an incident right away, wherever they are, and not eat up too much of their time.
A team of former Nokia Research engineers has built a hardware-agnostic video telematics platform that is already being white-labeled by some of the most important telematics service providers.
Truck drivers involved in certain behaviors are more likely to have a future crash, ATRI research has concluded.
A letter from two U.S. Senators has spurred CVSA to begin looking at its role in enforcing a rule on truck underrides.
Leaders from several different safety advocacy groups came together to ask the U.S. Senate to add safeguards to the AV START Act (S. 1885), a bill that addresses autonomous vehicles.
The driver pulling frac sand had drugs in his system and had numerous moving violations. That ultimately is what appears to have led to such an enormous penalty.
Daimler Trucks North America is recalling 18,105 2018-2019 Freightliner Cascadia vehicles for a brake caliper mounting bolt issue, the company informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The statistics on 2018’s spot brake check day on trucks and buses are remarkably similar to what was found in 2017.
Following the publication of a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report last June that recommended changes to the way the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) records and displays SMS data, the agency has decided to scrap proposed changes.
The causes cited for trucks hitting overpasses near New York are many: GPS instructions, not enough signs, driver unfamiliarity with the limited roads.
A USDOT 3-year pilot program would allow drivers under the age of 21 and holding a military CDL to drive interstate commerce when sponsored by a participating trucking company.
Cashflow Corner presented by TriumphPay …Market conditions might make the timing right for truckers set a more fuel-efficient vehicle speed.
Efforts are being made to exempt livestock and certain agricultural haulers from ELD and hour-of-service rules, but a trucking group and safety advocacy organization are fighting back.
As demonstrated by recent collisions involving autonomous vehicles, drivers must remain vigilant and ready to take control of the vehicle at any moment. “Driver readiness” is paramount to successfully operating an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle,
On June 7th, the highest odds for a truck being in a collision will occur between 4 pm and 7 pm and between 9 pm and midnight, accounting for 21% and 19% of the day’s accidents, respectively, almost twice what would be expected if accidents occurred at random times.
Hours of Service violations will be the biggest focus this year, but ELDs may hold their numbers in check.
Sponsored by Reliance Partners…Regardless of whether the accident was the driver’s fault, documentation helps support the ease and efficiency of the process. The point is, document first, ask questions later.
As fleets adopt more advanced safety system, the issues of initial and ongoing driver training become the primary vehicle to the success of those system.
According to Bo Mitchell, there are more than 1,300 deaths per year as a result of “intimate partner violence” and many of them occur in a workplace environment. Two people are killed each day in America in the workplace as a result of a firearm or knife attack.
Eye on Safety sponsored by SmartDrive …Recent legislation has bipartisan backing, but can it progress in this Congress?
Sponsored by Reliance Partners…Two very different approaches could give some breathing room to the tightening CDL driver shortage.
Brought to you by Reliance Partners…Begin the process by providing clarity and expectations first on the basics, such as driving, detention, and layover, the nuts-and-bolts of the driving job.
Netradyne’s Driveri system records driver behaviors. A new extension of that adds real-time notifications to the driver in the cab.
Along the side of a tractor-trailer is a blind spot for drivers, but it is also an area where incidents can happen. Adding side cameras can help record those incidents.
Presented by Reliance Partners…While there are loads of ways to save on insurance costs, some aren’t as realistic as others. We’ve distilled it down to a concentrated Top 5.
Presented by Reliance Partners …The jury is still out as to whether or not ELDs actually make our roads safer, but many say they’re working.
In partnership with Reliance Partners …It isn’t easy, it isn’t quick, but having a safety culture in your company can pay some clear dividends.
Presented by Reliance Partners …Cargo theft doesn’t just happen on the road, it can also happen at the warehouse. To prevent it, leading experts noted some of the approaches that scare away thieves.
FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez heard plenty of complaints from truck drivers over ELDs, hours of service, and parking issues during a Listening Session at Mid-America.
Presented by Reliance Partners …As if insurance requirements are not confusing enough for truckers, there is additional insurance policies some truckers or carriers need that others do not. This includes intermodal insurance coverage
Presented by Reliance Partners …For truly safe trucking companies, chameleon carriers are a problem. But it is one that data is helping solve.
Have ELD’s worsen the truck parking problem? Perhaps, but the real problem remains where spots are located and letting drivers know those locations.
Insurance & Risk Management presented by Reliance Partners … While the number of recorded cargo thefts in 2017 declined to 649, the group said, the threat remains, and according to Scott Cornell with Traveler’s Special Investigations Group (SIG), may be underreported.
Drivers aren’t robots and one size doesn’t fit all, so in the absence of flexibility, wide-awake drivers attempt to sleep in rest stops on 10-hour breaks during the day, which is what makes the 14-hour clock so dangerous.
It seems so simple, but basic attention to detail can help prevent an unwanted interaction with law enforcement, which can lead to increased insurance premiums.
Trucking companies face high insurance costs, and few are higher than new venture insurance for new carriers. Some steps can be taken to help lower that initial cost, though.
Telematics and data expert joins FreightWaves to help develop thought leadership and a forum for interpreting telematics and market data for the freight markets
Typically, about 12% of any fleet of drivers on any given day or night will fall well outside the company’s operational safety parameters. How can you use your ELD and GPS data to improve driver safety and productivity? Compliance doesn’t necessarily mean safer.
Though the Food Safety Modernization Act mandate has already been partially implemented with regard to large carriers and fleet agencies, the hard deadline for smaller fleets is up this year.
Regulations surrounding autonomous vehicles are taking different approaches in the U.S. and Europe, with Europe writing specific technologies into its laws.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is taking a survey of truck drivers’ commutes to and from work.
The sharing economy is generally organized around a technology platform that facilitates the exchange of goods, assets, and services between people across a varied and dynamic collection of sectors.
WABCO and Nikola will accelerate the development of industry-leading safety technologies specifically designed for electric commercial vehicles, including electronic braking, traction control, and stability control. Nikola anticipates offering its fully electric Nikola Two day-cab truck (pictured here) for sale in the U.S. by 2021.
When the U.S. Department of Transportation announced in August that it was abandoning a proposed rulemaking for sleep apnea, many in the industry were not pleased. While there is no mandate, sleep apnea remains a very treatable problem for drivers.
Like many carriers, Santa has been stressed about the ELD mandate, knowing that compliance is impossible and kids would not understand that the FMCSA was operating alongside the Grinch in a coordinated effort.
39,000 citations issued during the 2017 Operation Safe Driver initiative? The results sounded alarming, especially when compared with the 2016 results of 20,648 total citations or warnings issued throughout the United States and Canada.
With the evolution of trucks into computers on wheels, cybersecurity becomes more of an issue. Autonomous trucks are especially an attractive target for the hacking community.
Last-minute efforts to delay or stop the electronic logging device rule (ELD) are continuing, but it may be too little, too late unless President Donald Trump throws a Hail Mary.
A few years ago, cameras in trucks were viewed negatively by nearly everyone. That has started changing as more providers perfected the systems and word started getting out on how a camera could save a fleet from a million-dollar lawsuit, not to mention reducing risky driving behaviors.
Injury insurance claims from ports involve vehicles or other heavy equipment 85% of the time. An insurance provider has studied the claims and is making recommendations to ports on how to prevent them.
UK-based fleet management solutions company Microlise told attendees at the recently concluded Freight in the City 2017 conference how big data can boost productivity for truck drivers and operators alike with an emphasis on safety.
Fleets do not have to be stuck paying high insurance premiums as there are a number of choices they can make to lower their risk profile and cost. Here are 10 ways to help do that.
