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Telematics is essentially detailed information about your vehicles; such as how they’re being driven and the location of your vehicles.

It’s an effective management tool, not only for the logistical reasons of knowing exactly where your vehicles are but also for identifying high-risk drivers.

If you can better identify high-risk drivers, you can take action and prevent accidents from happening.

We’ve already covered how to identify high-risk drivers when you have robust driver licence checking processes, but telematics provides much more detailed information on driver behaviour.

Reviewing Telematics Data

Fleet operators should review their telematics data on a regular basis.  A few of the things you should be looking at are:

Speeding Trends - You’ll be able to identify how fast your drivers are going, how hard they’re accelerating, and so on.

G-Rating - This will tell you how hard your drivers are corning, which has an impact on tyre wear and fuel consumption.

Harsh Braking - If a particular driver is braking hard on a regular basis, it tells you that they’re lacking due care and attention.

Driver Communication - With real-time data showing you where a vehicle is, there are a number of ways you can better communicate with your drivers to optimise their routes.

Fuel Consumption - You can easily identify at a glance which vehicles are using the most fuel, then drill down to identify exactly why.

Cross-Referencing Telematics Data With Maintenance Data

You can also cross-reference telematics data with maintenance data. This will help explain why certain vehicles are wearing through certain parts quickly, or help you identify maintenance trends.

There is a huge potential for saving money on replacing parts and other maintenance costs if you use telematics data to identify and prevent high-risk driving behaviours.

Increasing Driver Safety

Ultimately, telematics is a fantastic management tool to ensure you’re increasing safety across your fleet.

You can look at detailed data that create patterns of driving behaviours, flag up high-risk behaviours such as harsh braking or hard accelerating, and get a picture of how your employees are driving.

When used effectively, telematics demonstrates that you’re managing the risk within your fleet and reducing the number of road accident-related incidents your drivers are involved in.

Many fleet operators are using telematics to develop safety policies outlining the responsibilities of their drivers and create a culture of better road safety.

If you would like to know more about how you could be using telematics data within your organisation, please feel free to get in touch with a member of our team by using this form or calling our office on 01666 575900.

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