Trucking companies have long encountered post-accident lawsuits, but the legal landscape has become more precarious for fleets over the past decade. As carriers continue to be hit with nuclear verdicts, it is more important than ever for industry leaders to invest in safety.
“Today, the accident is just the start of the conversation,” said Adam Kahn, chief business development officer at Netradyne.
The exploration stage of the litigation process has expanded to include thorough investigations into a company’s overall safety culture, not just the incident itself. Carriers need to be able to show that they are connected and engaged with drivers, not just prove what happened on the road.
Carriers are beginning to embrace AI-enabled safety solutions as a way to improve their overall safety culture and increase the number of safe driving touchpoints drivers experience on a day-to-day basis. While these solutions can be worthwhile, it is important to choose a program that incentivizes driver participation.
The right fleet safety program can make it easier for carriers and drivers to connect in meaningful ways to both improve safety and grow relationships. Implementing a program that drivers actually want to engage with will lead to better results all around.
“Part of the ROI is directly correlated to how much your drivers are engaged in the program,” Kahn said.
Often, safety programs focus exclusively on what a driver is doing wrong. This is one of the biggest reasons fleets see a lack of driver engagement.
If a driver travels 100,000 miles each year, that comes out to about 500 minutes of driving every day, Kahn explained. Most safety programs focus on a very small percentage of that time, highlighting a driver’s mistakes and ignoring positive driving habits.
“Most systems that I have experienced only look at the minutes where the driver is not doing something right. That is a fraction of the time,” Kahn said. “Why not have your model based on all 500 minutes?”
Netradyne’s fleet safety solution, Driver•i, is designed to do just that. The AI-powered camera system captures the full story behind each driver’s actions. This means that it picks up on – and rewards – positive behaviors as well as mistakes.
Driver•i is specifically designed to capture what Kahn refers to as “golden moments.” These are moments when a truck driver is doing everything right – like driving the speed limit, allowing a safe following distance and responding to minor incidents appropriately. These moments result in driver stars, a tangible recognition of a job well done.
By tracking what drivers are doing right, fleet managers are able to start every interaction with a specific compliment. This builds positive rapport, increasing the likelihood that drivers will engage with the program, and makes any necessary corrective actions more effective.
Driver•i also automatically responds to unsafe driving when it is happening, allowing drivers to make changes quickly before ever interacting with another person. This allows fleets to embrace the “act now, talk later” mentality that navigating today’s legal landscape requires.
“You can figure out what the driver is doing, correct it as soon as possible and talk about it next time you see the driver,” Kahn said.
Fleet managers cannot speak to every driver every day, but technology can bridge the gap. Implementing the right safety solution now could make all the difference for carriers working to avoid nuclear verdicts and improve trucking industry safety overall.
Click here to learn more about Netradyne and Driver•i.
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