team of about 20 around the country. “There’s quite a bit of demand for DriveCam in the UK. Operators are generally experienced with some form of telematics and most have been exposed to CCTV or some form of vehicle tracking. What we’re finding is that there’s an enormous interest in how to prevent accidents, meaning the concept of an exception based behaviour programme is of significant interest.”
Foundations in passenger transport
While DriveCam has been adopted and used across a variety of transport industries, being attractive to any organisation which has vehicles on the road all the time, it has seen most use in the coach and bus industry. “Looking at our heritage, it’s easy to point to coaches and buses,” Paul said. “The return on investment for this industry is huge. When you’re carrying passengers, its not just the vehicles involved in the accident you need to be concerned about – the exposure and liability goes up exponentially.” DriveCam attended Coach & Bus Live 2013, where the company gave a detailed presentation on its product in the ‘Master Class Theatre’, which it sponsored itself. “The show was extremely positive for us,” Paul stated. “Our booth was almost overrun at times. “There were people who may have heard of us before the show, but weren’t sure exactly what we offered. What really captured their imagination was using the camera to manage risk. “There are incidents which may be brought up by other forms of telematics where the driver may not remember exactly what happened. Showing the driver the footage is much more powerful. “People liked how the camera is constantly recording, but they don’t have reams of CCTV tapes to look through to find what they’re looking for. We do all that for them and offer another level of analytics.”
From suspicion to approval
Clearly, drivers are likely to be uncomfortable about a camera trained on them while they are driving, making them sceptical about the system initially. However, Paul claimed that once it is explained that the cameras can often help to exonerate them when they are blameless and are only recording when a specific event happens, they have been overwhelmingly positive about it. “The safest drivers love DriveCam as it reinforces that they are doing a good job,” Paul explained. “The system allows managers to be objective when sitting down with drivers. It’s not a case of ‘the manager is picking on me’, it’s just showing them what actually happened.” The system allows for the implementation of positive recognition programmes. League tables can be set up which consider risk instead of just considering how many times a driver has used excessive braking and such with no context. “This reinforces good driving behaviour and helps other drivers become safer,” Paul added. When it comes to going through video recordings with the drivers, Paul suggested the best way to speak to employees about performance feedback is to let them look themselves, identify issue and give guidance based on what they see. This gives drivers the opportunity to return to the road and make adjustments to their driving themselves.
Persistent results
Given the fact DriveCam is used by such a wide range of companies and industries, Paul said the results it gets cover a wide spectrum. Generally speaking, operators have seen anything from a 40-80% reduction in collisions and fuel saving of 4-12%. Statistics also showed an immediate and long term reduction in the frequency of risky events.
DriveCam DC3P Specifications General emory available for event and data storage: M Up to 4 GB (more than 250 events) lH orizontal field of view: 130° (internal) / 80° (external) lD iagonal field of view: 152° (internal) / 99° (external) lA ccelerometers: 3 axis (forward, lateral, vertical) l Manual video trigger l Industrial-grade parts l Limited warranty: 2 years lS tandard input voltage: 12V or 24V (9V min. to 30V max.) lD imensions (excludes mounting bracket): 4.5 x 4.3 x 2.1 in. W/H/D (11.4 x 10.9 x 5.3cm) l Weight: 8.3 oz. (235 g) l
Connectivity lW ireless
(two models): Mobile: CDMA/Wi-Fi, GSM/Wi-Fi (international only) WiFi (802.11 b/g) lU SB (both models): USB 2.0 (USB Mini A or Mini B plug) Advanced Functionality lS peed,
heading and location through GPS illumination for low light conditions l Remote triggering (requires standard hub) l Safety Enhancement Mode (SEM) support l I nput/output connectors for additional functionality (requires standard hub) l I nfrared
Event Characteristics lA verage 12 second event file size: 750K – 1.3 MB l Standard
resolution: 640 x 360 (230,400 pixels)
Physical Security lS ecurity
screws used to seal unit: Full coverage l Block to prevent power disconnection l Power disconnect reporting l Memory format: NAND l Mounting bracket: Fixed
On the fence?
Asked what he would say to those sceptical about the benefits of driver safety management, Paul said: “I would say give yourself an opportunity to learn what these systems can do for you. “As an operator, your financial performance will improve. As a driver, you’re getting information which could help you in the classic ‘his word against yours’ situation and the opportunity to improve your driving, be safer and make sure you get home to your family at the end of the day. “We’re a company with a long and deep track record, with real lineage in the coach and bus market. While it can be very difficult to get precise analytics or manage driver behaviour using CCTV or telematics, we’re not doing any guessing.”
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November 20, 2013 | COACH & BUS WEEK | 39 18/11/2013 21:35