How Does Video Monitoring Reduce Loss from Theft, Vandalism, & Collisions?

As video monitoring (IVMS) continues to boom across fleet industries, business owners and fleet managers alike are enjoying the benefit of greater visibility (pun intended) into what’s happening in fleet vehicles — but the value of video monitoring goes far beyond the dashboard.

Video Monitoring & Fleet Vehicle Security

Video monitoring improves fleet security and aids in loss prevention in several key ways:

• Improving driver accountability
• Encouraging safe driving practices
• Keeping an unbiased evidence log of activity inside and around the vehicle
• Reducing risk & deterring theft and vandalism

Video Monitoring & Loss Prevention
Cargo theft and vandalism are unfortunate realities for fleet managers. One theft deterrent is video surveillance. With proper monitoring, your vehicles can be connected and reporting to you continuously. High quality GPS/GNSS receivers that determine position, speed and direction keep your vehicles communicating with you no matter how isolated the delivery location.
In the case of vehicle theft, you will be able to send coordinates to the authorities to speed up retrieval and assistance to your drivers if needed. You can rest easy knowing that with IVMS you will always have real-time location information on your fleet.

Video Monitoring & Risk Reduction

Litigation is something no fleet manager, owner or driver wants to face. But lawsuits are on the rise. The size of verdict awards against trucking fleets rose 51.7 percent annually from 2010 to 2018, according to a report from the American Transportation Research Institute, with over 300 cases resulting in a judgment of over $1 million.
Video monitoring is immensely valuable as it provides an unbiased account of these incidents, offering fleets a chance to avoid predatory judgments or clear their drivers altogether. In those unfortunate cases where the driver is at fault, fleets will be able get right to the heart of the matter and avoid any hearsay.
While reducing risks like these doesn’t translate directly into savings via lower insurance premiums, fewer incidents per year — an indirect savings which has the potential to far outweigh something as small as a lower premium.

Video Monitoring & Driver Accountability

Driver accountability is paramount for fleet managers on so many levels. One of the most effective ways to get driver buy-in, cultivate awareness and inspire employees to reduce these behaviors is by educating everyone about the impact of distracted driving, as illustrated by statistics such as these we collected from the NHTSA and the FMCSA:

• In commercial vehicle fleets, distraction is the second leading driver-related cause of fatal truck crashes.
• Cell phone use was reported as the distraction in 14% of all fatal distraction-affected crashes in 2017.
• Companies pay an average of $200K per auto incident and $3.6M per fatality for medium and heavy truck collisions.
• Texting without looking at the road for 5 seconds while traveling at a speed of 55 mph is the equivalent of driving the length of a football field blindfolded.

Still, fleet truck drivers may need coaching and education to perform at their best, safely. The good news? We are seeing a serious improvement in accident reduction as a result of implementing video monitoring and GPS tracking. For example, GPS Trackit customer Peter G. is seeing meaningful results:

“I had a choice between fleet tracking software and I was introduced to Fleet Manager by GPS Trackit by a friend of mine who runs a business where he has a small fleet of vehicles. I decided to give it a try and I felt that I was given total control over knowing where my vehicles were, what they were doing along with fuel consumption which in turn saved me some money.”
“Since the installation of this program, accidents have been cut down drastically since the drivers know that the management is monitoring them via fleet manager and I know at the end of the day I safely know where my vehicles are.”

Peter’s story highlights the fact that so many fleet owners don’t know what’s going on with their employees and vehicles. Admittedly, this is a serious liability in today’s world where this kind of oversight is easily prevented. Add to that the peace of mind that comes from knowing the truth of the situation — in real time.

Running a Safer Fleet

If you’d like to learn more about how GPS Trackit can help to improve safety, increase productivity and reduce costs for your business, speak with one of our knowledgeable Fleet Advisors at 866-320-5810 or get a quick Custom Quote.

Sources

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “Distracted Driving in Fatal Crashes, 2017”
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration “Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2016”
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration “Unit Costs of Medium and Heavy Truck Crashes”