Daily fleet and transport operations pose many risks to vehicles, drivers and other road users. When it comes to managing those risks, how can you do this effectively if you can’t see them? How can you stay one step ahead of the game if you can’t see what’s right in front of you?

Having sight of where your vehicles and drivers are enables you to run a pretty good fleet operation…

However, using the benefit of that sight – and the wealth of information it gives you – enables you to proactively manage risk, improve safety and improve performance.

Now that sounds like a world class fleet operation!

Driver and vehicle visibility is all about tracking. It’s about having sight of all the moving parts within your fleet. From vehicles to drivers, knowing where your assets are and what they’re doing is how fleet operators can piece together what’s happening out on the roads, back in the office.

Reduced visibility leaves operators in the dark.

Driver and vehicle tracking and visibility is great when everything is going to plan. You can watch your perfect plan unfold. However, it’s an absolute game-changer when things go awry.

For planning, execution and optimisation, being able to track vehicles to see where they are, where they’ve been and where they’re going is essential. And back at the office it’s possible to understand whether they’re on track, delayed or whether they can pick up an extra job at late notice.

You can then take action to divert drivers, keep customers informed and help keep your operations flowing. That’s what visibility can give you. Eyes on the road to inform operations back at the office.

When it comes to boosting efficiency, with increased visibility, you can gain a better understanding of how your vehicles are running, how they’re being driven and how well they are utilised. With this information you can start and see how you can impact:

• Fuel consumption
• Speeding incidents
• Idling
• Turnaround time

Data is great – but it’s what you do with it to impact your bottom line that can make all the difference.

In terms of safety, we can look at this from both sides: from the First Notification of Risk (FNOR) to the First Notification of Loss (FNOL).

FNOR – this is detecting risk and taking action.

Some common risks involving fleet vehicles include:

• Driver behaviours
• Driver distractions
• Width/Height restrictions such as low bridges
• Blind spots
• Vulnerable Roads Users

Using enhanced driver and vehicle visibility tech to detect these risks and trigger alerts means that corrective action can be taken to avoid an accident ever taking place.

FNOL – this is in the event of an incident or accident.

In the event of a breakdown, being able to locate vehicles can help with recovery. Or in the aftermath of an accident, in-vehicle telematics devices or on-board cameras can help shine a light on what happened.

And what about false claims? Did you know that, in the event of a HGV collision, 75% of HGV drivers are initially blamed, even if an incident wasn’t their fault?

Increased visibility will give the benefit of hindsight but why not go that step further to manage and remove risks before an incident can even occur?

When it comes to compliance, just like vehicles, operators need to ensure drivers meet their own compliance needs. From monitoring driver licenses to driving hours, having visibility of your drivers is a key component of your transport operation.

Having a live view of your drivers’ hours, you can decide if they are able to pick up another job, plan in breaks and keep drivers within legal driving limits.

For refrigerated or frozen goods, meet and prove your compliance requirements with temperature monitoring, giving you and your customers sight of those all-important numbers.

And considering fleet security, being able to locate your vehicles and assets, such a trailer laden with valuable loads, means you can keep your eye on the prize.

In the event of theft, tracking can help you locate missing vehicles and trailers. And once again, camera footage can help to tell the story of what happened and support in any subsequent insurance or police enquiries.

Enhanced visibility is not about an invasion of privacy or keeping tabs on your drivers, but giving those back in the office and the vision they need to make informed decisions. Decisions that can take your fleet performance to the next level.

And technology is the key to taking that next step.

Live fleet data at your fingertips

With Fleet Telematics, discover a range of user views and configure your dashboard to see all relevant fleet data you need in one place. With alerts to notify you of activity requiring your attention, from late deliveries to geofence breaches, you won’t miss a thing!

Keeping everyone in the loop!

Locate and speak to your drivers from the map view. Using Fleet Tracking, you can locate any vehicle and driver, and either send them a message or give them a call.

Execute and see your plan come to life

See your plan come to life – check if vehicles are early, on time or late with the live Schedule Execution Board.

Give your drivers the gift of sight too! Display your live arrivals and departures in your driver areas.

Avoid tacho infringements

From the live map view, combine Remote Tacho Download and Tachograph Analysis, to view live remaining driver time.

Take away the stress, post-incident

Actual eyes on the road, review camera footage to see exactly what happened with AI Camera footage. Piece it all together with the Incident Data Recorder to look back and see what the vehicle was doing at time of an incident.

Eyes where your driver needs them!

From blind spot detection to low bridge warning, our advanced Driver Warning System Flare gives drivers 360 vision – so they literally have eyes in the back of their head!

Alerts can safely notify drivers of an approaching cyclist or upcoming debris on the road, so drivers can be on high alert, or take the corrective action needed.

When it comes to a world class fleet, what do you see? How can you unlock the next level and bring your future fleet aspirations into focus?