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Read moreTraffic accidents, including fatal ones, are on the rise in Australia, making it more urgent than ever for transport companies to take steps to prioritise fleet safety through driver coaching and other initiatives.
According to BITRE, 6,400 people have lost their lives in motor vehicle crashes in Australia from 2019 to the present day (1). The picture doesn’t get any rosier when looking specifically at the transportation industry, according to Safe Work Australia.
Workers in the transportation sector face the highest number of on-the-job fatalities. Transport leads all industries when it comes to road fatalities in Australia, with an increase in road deaths over the past five years (2).
Driver distraction, drowsiness, and speeding are major contributors to accidents and fatalities. Driver fatigue is implicated in 20-30% of road accidents (3), while distraction accounts for about 16% of serious crashes, posing risks comparable to drink driving (4). These issues are causing significant challenges on Australian roads.
Here are four ways to focus on fleet safety, including new video-based driver coaching features from Verizon Connect.
Fleet driver coaching from Verizon Connect
Verizon Connect’s new video coaching solution is now accessible to both new and existing Integrated Video customers using Reveal and Fleet with dashcams. This program enables proactive, manager-led coaching sessions for drivers, utilising video footage. The coaching is based on factual evidence from vehicle video data, allowing for personalised, customised, and immediately actionable coaching opportunities aimed at enhancing fleet safety.
This driver training solution allows fleet managers to promptly pinpoint drivers and incidents for coaching, addressing common event types in driver improvement programs. Managers can label video events for coaching, track coaching progress, and document notes, supported by activity logs. Data generates summarised driver event lists and identifies behavioural trends across distances travelled.
With the Verizon Connect video coaching solution, fleet managers can:
- Develop video-based coaching sessions: Events can be viewed in a timely manner while providing safety managers with video evidence and event context.
- Document events for coaching: As they determine which events require coaching, managers can easily assign a coaching action status and provide additional notes for the driver.
- Create a safe driver culture: With this video data, fleet managers can now take additional proactive measures to mitigate accidents and develop a safe driving culture—rather than reacting to accidents after they occur.
Driver coaching with data
How critical is data to promoting fleet safety? According to the latest Fleet Technology Trends Report, companies implementing fleet management software see accident costs reduced by 17% (5).
When providing drivers with feedback on unsafe or aggressive driving behaviour, the coaching becomes more effective when managers can present data illustrating the driver’s actions or inactions. This data also highlights how positive behaviour changes enhance fleet safety and operational efficiency, benchmarked against industry standards.
Concrete data points provide solid justification for modifying driver behaviour. For instance, if a monitoring system reveals frequent occurrences of hard braking and acceleration, presenting evidence of these incidents is crucial for initiating behaviour change. The next step involves sharing industry-supported evidence that adheres to guidelines, such as the fact that reducing aggressive accelerations results in fuel savings.
Feedback on driving behaviour can be hard to hear sometimes, but it’s difficult to argue with the hard facts that are shared during driver coaching sessions. And providing this data often helps drivers understand how their actions affect the big picture in terms of fleet safety and efficiency.
Driver coaching requires clear safety goals, timely intervention and constructive feedback — and should be data-driven. Download our free eBook to find out how to bring all the elements together and transform your fleet’s safety culture.
Verbal feedback
Person-to-person feedback is a powerful tool for drivers to understand the effect their actions have on fleet safety. In-vehicle safety alerts are important, as are regular fleet safety training sessions for the group. But when it comes to driver coaching, one-on-one sessions backed with data can be a highly effective way of changing bad driving habits.
In-vehicle coaching with audio alerts
Instant feedback aids drivers in adjusting their behaviour. In-vehicle coaching, such as audio alerts for pedestrians, tailgating, and detecting drowsiness via the driver-facing camera, offers immediate alerts. Verizon Connect’s AI Dashcam enhances fleet safety by continuously monitoring driver behaviour and issuing timely audio alerts when necessary.
Ongoing fleet driver training
Understanding that driver training is not a one-time discussion is paramount to changing behaviour. Creating individual programs so that drivers can focus on their behaviour behind the wheel can work well if managers check in often to see if there has been any improvement. Other components of a successful driver coaching program aimed at improving fleet safety include:
- Fostering a safety-first culture. Regularly reinforce the true costs of unsafe driving with your drivers.
- Share high-priority safe driving metrics. Which safety metrics are most important to your fleet? Speeding, harsh braking, failure to wear a seatbelt? Focus your driver coaching efforts on those priorities.
- Reward good driving behaviour. Driver coaching necessarily focuses on correcting dangerous and inefficient driving habits. But offering incentives and recognition, the fleet’s safest drivers will turn into safety ambassadors, and this will give other drivers meaningful rewards to aim for.
Sources:
- (1-2) https://www.bitre.gov.au/publications/ongoing/road_deaths_australia_monthly_bulletins
- (3) https://www.aaa.asn.au/research/fatigued-driving/
- (4) https://www.aaa.asn.au/research/distracted-driving/
- (5) Fleet Technology Trends Report in Australia and New Zealand 2024