Commercial Fleets Can Mitigate Risk With Drivecam

It’s the next best thing to riding along with any one of the company’s commercial fleet drivers. The DriveCam provides video evidence of circumstances surrounding any type of collision that is becoming instrumental in facilitating good driving habits and attentiveness by commercial fleet drivers.

Developed by San Diego-based DriveCam Inc., the vehicular video monitoring system is positioned inside the vehicle and is triggered into operation by an extraordinary movement such as sudden hard braking, acceleration or swerving. Once the camera is active, it records audio and video, capturing the critical seconds leading up to the event.

Besides generating evidence in the event of a collision, the recording can also be analyzed by a Certified Driving Risk Analyst who will review the events, assign it a risk score and forward the results to the commercial fleet manager to discuss with the drivers.

DriveCam Inc. maintains a database of driving incidents that serves as the largest repository of risky driving information based on actual events.

This summer, DriveCam is promoting its technology to increase seat belt usage amongst commercial fleet drivers.

According to DriveCam’s Risk InfoCentre™ review of driving behaviours of 1,985 commercial motor vehicle drivers in the distribution sector, 1,286, or nearly 65 per cent, had at least one seat belt violation.

The study focused on driver behaviours in the United States although the results can be used to assess potential shortcomings North America-wide. “Despite legislation, awareness campaigns and corporate mandates that drivers buckle up, only 35 per cent of drivers in video meta data we reviewed were constantly wearing seat belts,” says Del Lisk, vice president of DriveCam’s safety services.

DriveCam executives were in attendance at the 2008 P&C Technology Conference, hosted by Insurance Canada and sponsored by Canadian Insurance Magazine, last February.

This story was originally published by Canadian Insurance Top Broker.