Driver Behavior

The term “Driver Behavior” is a catch all phrase that has many meanings. To many, the first thought is speeding. Usually that’s not the last thought, as it is quickly followed by thoughts of swerving through traffic and then to thinking about the underlying behaviors: harsh braking and rapid acceleration. Even idling with the engine running becomes a factor in evaluating driver behavior. As a business owner with vehicles in the field, these aren't random thoughts, driver behavior, and specifically ‘bad’ driver behavior is a pressing business concern. Its not taken lightly and tools to assess and manage the trends are valuable. Our system provides several tools to help evaluate each of these factors providing insight to allow you to make good decisions: correct the bad behaviors and reward the good.

To us, driver behavior also includes how the driver interacts with customer. Much of that, is invisible when you’re not on site with the driver. But there are some aspects that GPS Tracking can provide insight into. Promptness - and honesty about that - is a core respect issue for many customers. A second aspect of driver behavior that can influence your customers is accuracy of time reporting. If your visits are tied to time on site. The GPS Tracker can provide supporting evidence to answer any questions.

Speeding Costs Money

Speeding costs money - whether is inefficient fuel usage, speeding tickets or a higher risk of accidents, it costs money. The system can give you detailed information about who in your fleet speeds, how often they speed. In real-time, it can send email alerts when speed is above a threshold value.

Simple graphs, like the one below, can make it easier to compare driver behavior across your fleet. Quick imagery to show who speeds a lot and who is more conservative.

As always, our Map views let you review the details and determine if a unit was growing 55 mph where it was doing that - on the highway - or in a school zone.

As always, our Map views let you review the details and determine if a unit was growing 55 mph where it was doing that - on the highway - or in a school zone.

Harsh Braking / Rapid Acceleration

With the advent of GPS Tracking devices with built-in accelerometers, harsh braking, jack-rabbit starts and other bad driving behavior becomes measurable, patterns can be detected and corrections can be made.

Coaching to avoid these tendencies can make a bad driver better and a good driver great. Understanding the causes can help cut down on the occurrences. Its possible a driver gets nervous when they’re looking for an address in a neighborhood they’re not familiar with. Coaching that safe driving is the priority can make all the difference.

Idle Reports

Excessive idling wastes fuel and costs money. Eliminating all idling is probably not a real goal. Eliminating excessive idling is a effective cost containment strategy. Where the line is, is hard to determine. Our idle report is an effective tool for comparing idling traits between drivers. It provides a graph of idle and runtimes and stop time to allow you to compare different units to determine if similar drivers, routes and vehicles are idling a similar amount. Discrepencies, when they occur, can then be worked out between manager and driver.

Defend Good Driver Behavior

Our stop reports can be used to help defend against “he got here late” or “she didn’t stay for the full hour” customer complaints. The reports show where the vehicle was and what time it was there in a summary format that gives you the insight you need.

Summarizing

The catch-all phrase “driver behavior” has many meanings. With GPS tracking devices, a manager or business owner has the tools to evaluate drivers to determine if they’re meeting the standards and expectations of the business. The detailed reports gives the manager the tools to work with the employee to take corrective action - before accidents happen and before costs get out of line. Additionally, gps tracking devices give you tools to refute customer complaints that could be impacting revenue.