Mix Telematics also revealed a new insurance link-up at the CV Show. Steve Coffin, marketing and operations director, said the firm had teamed up with insurance broker Towergate to offer a fleet solution which will help bring down insurance premiums.

“Fitting a telematics system to a fleet will save between 10% and 15% in fuel and the payback will start within three to six months,” he said. “But we have to add extra value as well as just sell black boxes and our tie-up with Towergate will do that.”

Traffic light system signals better safety

One of the latest tools in the fleet manager’s armoury against unnecessary risk and financial inefficiency is the “traffic light” – a telematics device on the dashboard of a van that warns the driver about bad habits and relays those habits straight back to the boss.

When the driver behaves sensibly, he’ll see a green light; when he’s driving badly, it changes to red. In between, there’s an amber light for minor misdemeanours.

Trimble was one of the first telematics companies to offer this facility to UK fleets and to test out its benefits and drawbacks, we had one fitted to our long-term test Ford Transit for a month.
Not only is the driver made aware of his shortcomings, but the details are relayed back to Trimble’s computers and can be accessed at any time – and in real time – by the fleet manager.

Four parameters are measured – speed, corning, acceleration and braking -– and simple, easy-to-understand reports are produced with pie-charts showing percentages of red, amber and green.

However, Charles Morriston, Trimble’s training manager, pointed out that the system was not designed merely as a method of keeping tabs on individual drivers. He said: “If you have 8,000 drivers, you would need an army of staff to look at all the information. The way to do it is to look at trends and patterns rather than using it as a witch hunt against individuals.”

One of the problems with installing a system like this is that of driver acceptance. If a driver takes a dislike to his van, there are many hidden ways of showing that dislike.

Morriston said: “We have had problems with ‘big brother’ syndrome but we teach drivers that they are using company assets, sometimes worth £50,000 per unit, and it is their duty to look after that asset.”

Our test - A month with the Trimble system
If you fit devices such as the Trimble traffic light to your vans, don’t expect drivers to beat a path to your door, congratulating you on your wisdom.

When the device was first fitted to my Ford Transit, I didn’t like it at all. Appreciation of its benefits are more of a slow burn. After our month’s trial, I had to admit that it was a pretty fair piece of kit.

The device sits on the dashboard, where you can’t fail to notice it. When it goes into the red, even the most hard-nosed driver will pause for thought, whether he likes it or not.
One thing that drove me to distraction was that when the device goes into the red, it shows a marked disinclination to revert back to green.

For example, on one occasion I was driving off the M25 on to the M11 heading north and with the sliproad leaning sharply to the right, the device went into red mode. Fair enough, I thought. I was tanking it a bit, after all. But 10 miles later at Birchanger services and with me driving at a sedate 65mph, it still showed red.

“Why, why, why?” I shouted at it, but I got no answer.

The system is set to a default set of parameters and when fitted to a client’s fleet, it can be adjusted to take little problems like this into account. Each of the four parameters – speeding, acceleration, braking and cornering – can be adjusted separately, according to how exacting you want your standards to be.

My experience on the M11 was a kind of smack on the wrist, as though the unit was saying: “You’ve been a naughty boy – you’re going to have to show me you can behave nicely before I go back on green!”

When you turn the engine on first thing in the morning, the light will show whatever it was on when you turned the engine off the night before. You may have forgotten that sharp braking from last night but the Trimble unit certainly hasn’t.

The acid test of the system is this: did it make me alter my driving style for the better? And the answer is a definite yes. The knowledge that someone back at Trimble HQ was keeping an eye on my driving preyed on my mind and as each bend came up I consciously eased off the throttle a bit in a bid to stop the device going into red.

After the trial, training manager Charles Morriston looked at my scoresheet and said: “Not bad at all. If you were driving for my firm I’d have no problems with this.”

Verdict

Any fleet manager who takes health and safety and cost-efficiency seriously should look at installing devices like this to their vehicles. There is simply no excuse for bad driving nowadays – and telematics can stamp it out for good.

By Trevor Gehlcken