Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1004801
commercial carrier journal | july 2018 35 SmartDrive analysis shows compound risks from speeding V ideo safety and transportation intelligence company SmartDrive Systems recently published updated in- sights on the compound effects of driver speeding. The insights were made by aggregating data from the SmartDrive da- tabase of more than 220 million analyzed and scored driving events. Some of the conclusions drawn from SmartDrive's analysis show that drivers who speed are: • Nearly 3 times more likely to practice unsafe following distances; • 45 percent more likely to be involved in a near-collision; • 54 percent more likely to cross the me- dian or center line of the roadway; • More than 2.5 times more likely to be distracted while driving; • Consistently more likely to fail to com- ply with stop signs and red lights; • More likely to engage in unsafe lane changing, merging, passing, braking and turning; • 3.7 times more likely to drive with two hands off the wheel; and • More likely to waste fuel, as highway mpg for speeding drivers is 2.7 percent lower than for all other drivers. "While everyone understands speeding is dangerous, only video safety, deployed with a cab-facing camera, provides objective measurement of the associated driving risks and the price fleets pay as a result of collisions caused by speeding, as- sociated legal claims and vehicle damages, as well as wasted fuel," said Steve Mit- gang, SmartDrive's chief executive officer. "SmartDrive applauds those fleets that have taken the necessary steps to reduce speeding, protecting their drivers and the motoring public by implementing an action-oriented video safety program." – Aaron Huff Optimizing load offers With a massive collection of historical data on shipments and carriers, C.H. Robinson's data scientists are continuing to develop more sophis- ticated methods for optimizing round-trip movements for carriers, Gagnon says. This round-trip focus also is a revenue-generating opportunity for the company. To make the best possible load recommenda- tions for carriers, C.H. Robinson is using past business and search data from carriers, as well as buying data and connecting to open-source data communities. "Our highest priority is to convert data into real value, "he says. "Some ideas win, and some don't, but we absolutely execute on some of those things. The reason is to retain capacity and deliver value to carriers." While these and other techniques for opti- mizing loads for carriers are technologically sophisticated, "we have to keep it really simple as it relates to our connections with carriers," Gagnon says. The simplicity has to be consistent across the communications methods the company has for carriers — phone, electronic data interchange, the carrier's web portal, Navisphere app and any combination thereof, he says. Whereas the electronic logging device mandate was expected to take additional capacity out of the market, the impact is difficult to quantify for the transportation industry as a whole, says Gagnon, who notes that C.H. Robinson has been seeing its capacity increase as more carriers sign up to use its apps and website to find loads. Looking to the future, he sees an opportunity to use data science to configure optimal routes for autonomous vehicles. That endeavor is at least five to 10 years away, Gagnon says. The most likely scenario will be to use auton- omous vehicles to transport freight on long-haul routes to drop yards near metropolitan areas, where local drivers will make pickups and deliveries. "There is a lot that needs to play out before we get too descript," he says. AARON HUFF is Senior Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail ahuff@ccjmagazine.com or call (801) 754-4296. INTERESTED IN TRUCKING TECHNOLOGY? Scan the barcode or go to www.goo.gl/Ph9JK to subscribe to the CCJ Technology Weekly e-mail newsletter.