A report released in June by GPS tracking provider Teletrac Navman shows that members of the road transport industry are taking driver safety very seriously – and there is a thirst for developing driver safety technologies over other emerging business technologies.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
Transport professionals are responding seriously to the concerning leap in New Zealand’s road toll. The 2018 New Zealand Telematics Benchmark Report conducted by Teletrac Navman, a global leader in GPS tracking technology and services, has found that safety technology is taking investment priority over other emerging technologies, as companies look to improve driver safety through alerting and fatigue-monitoring technology.
As of the end of May 2018, the road toll in New Zealand reached 164 deaths, an increase of 10 deaths from the same time period last year. The Telematics Benchmark Report found that even though truck drivers have primary responsibility for only about a third (32%) of the fatal crashes in which they are involved, the transport industry is taking action.
The rise of fatal road crashes is a strong incentive for transport companies to develop more safety measures, particularly as some drivers are so fearful of crashes that they are leaving the industry.
The Telematics Benchmark Report represents the responses of 250 New Zealand fleet operations and fleet management professionals in the transport, construction, manufacturing, retail, government and professional services industries. It was conducted as part of a global survey of 2400 fleet operations and fleet management professionals.
Key safety findings for New Zealand include:
- • The top two emerging technologies that organisations are considering for implementation in 2018 are driver warning and alerting technology (26%) and fatigue monitoring (18%)
- • Driver warning and alerting technology (at 36%) is the top choice of emerging technology that organisations expect to have the greatest impact on business operations in the future; it is followed closely by fatigue monitoring (18%), big data analytics (17%) and artificial intelligence (16%)
- • One in five respondents (21%) cite improving driver safety as a top business goal
- • Around one-third of respondents (34%) reported fewer accidents as a result of using telematics – an increase of 11% from 2017
- • Speed prevention is the top safety benefit realised by using telematics, cited by nearly half of respondents (46%), followed by monitoring and benchmarking driver behaviour (29%) and monitoring hours to prevent driver fatigue (24%).
“The report indicates that Kiwi organisations are placing an even larger focus on driver safety going into the future,” says Ian Daniel, vice president and managing director, Asia Pacific. “Technology is driving change in the fleet management area, from driver safety technology and cameras to EVs and autonomous vehicles. Pair technology innovations with changes in laws and regulations and you will find that fleet managers are increasingly tasked with guiding major business decisions.”