Jamie Brooks LLC

All it took was one time.

A driver from Jamie Brooks LLC—a commercial trucking company—was on a delivery route when a car pulled out in front of his truck and hit the brakes, causing a collision. But when the driver of the car claimed the truck driver was liable for the accident, the trucking company didn’t have the evidence to prove otherwise to its insurance company.

“We got charged with it,“ said Jamie Brooks, owner of the trucking company.

That’s when Brooks decided to take action. He knew his company trucks could be targeted for similar incidents going forward, and he needed a way to show that his employees might not be at fault in a collision, especially when another driver claimed otherwise.

After asking for recommendations, Brooks chose to deploy a fleet management system that could monitor incidents in and around the company’s hauling trucks—Verizon Connect Reveal with Integrated Video and AI dashcams.

“A couple of my friends said they had (Verizon Connect Reveal) and they were happy with it,” Brooks said. “So I decided to give it a try.”

Safety and reliability require close coordination

In business for 27 years, Jamie Brooks LLC is a trucking company that hauls commercial metals—mainly rebar—for customers in the northern Florida region. With as many as six trucks operating simultaneously, the company’s drivers cover two or three pickup and delivery routes daily.

“Our drivers have a list of loads they have to do every day,” Brooks said. “We usually get it from two or three different places, and usually take it to two or three different places.”

All that coming and going requires coordination from the company’s office in Baldwin, FL.

The company needs to be able to track the location of each of its trucks in the field and inform customers of estimated times for pickups and deliveries.

“Mainly to know if our driver is getting held up, so we can call ahead and let them know our driver may be running late,” Brooks said.

Knowing that the company’s reputation for safe driving is on the line daily, Brooks also needs some assurance that his employees are operating company vehicles safely, and to let them know when their driving habits need to improve.

And in the event of an accident or reported unsafe driving episode, Brooks needs the facts so he can assess the situation and refute false claims of liability.

Fleet management tools help keep trucks on schedule

To keep the operation moving smoothly and keep unwarranted complaints at bay, Jamie Brooks LLC leans on the fleet management power of Verizon Connect Reveal with Integrated Video and AI dashcams.

Verizon Connect Reveal is an intuitive, cloud-based fleet-management system that monitors and manages a mobile workforce. It offers a near-real-time, 360-degree view of a fleet’s daily operations.

The GPS tracking and high-resolution maps of Reveal allow Brooks to know where his company’s trucks are at all times. Brooks also has embraced several of the tools offered by the software, including:

• Live maps for monitoring vehicles' whereabouts, tracking their location to make sure drivers are making their pickups and deliveries on time. If a driver is held up in traffic, they can let the customers know the estimated arrival times
• Safety alerts and reports for incidents such as speeding, harsh braking and quick starts to help drivers improve their habits
• Outward-facing, integrated AI dashcams to mitigate risk and debunk liability claims in the event of an accident or reported unsafe driving incident

Company verifies deliveries and saves on insurance costs

On several occasions, Verizon Connect Reveal with Integrated Video and AI dashcams has proved to be a big plus for Jamie Brooks LLC.

In one instance, a mill customer claimed that a large load of steel—about $40,000 worth—had not been delivered to them. Using the Reveal platform, Brooks was able to confirm the exact time his company’s truck had arrived and left the mill, and onsite video showed the truck had indeed made the delivery.

“The mill’s cameras matched our detailed report, so there was no way around it,” Brooks said.

In another instance, Brooks received a call from a police officer with a complaint that a Jamie Brooks vehicle had run another driver off the road.

“They accused us of being in the wrong lane,” Brooks said. “Our driver actually had stopped and got out to help them. We pulled up the video on Reveal, downloaded it and sent it to the officer. He cut us loose and wrote them a ticket.”

That ability to debunk false claims also has led to savings on the company’s auto insurance. Brooks said that by using AI cameras on his trucks, he receives a 5 % discount on his insurance bill. “That covered the cost of the cameras,” he said.

Brooks said he checks Reveal for unsafe driving alerts, but only occasionally feels the need to speak to his drivers about their habits.

“I just look at night and see if there’s anything serious,” he said. “A lot of times, it’s no big deal. But there’s been a couple that I have to say, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ It’s usually a little more brash than a coaching session.”

“But mainly, I just look and see where everybody is at any given moment, who’s getting held up and who can get to a customer quickest. If we have a hot load or we have something they’re needing right away, instead of calling around to find where everybody is, I can just pull up Reveal and go, ‘OK, he’s the closest. He’s in route.’ ”