Insurance provider Hibernian is to deploy black box devices to the cabs of Irish truck fleets that can share vital risk information over the internet in a bid to help fleet managers reduce insurance and fuel bills.
The company has signed a deal with US company DriveCam to use incident recording technology and internet file sharing to provide accurate and up to the minute driver assessment to improve driver behaviour.
Like a Black Box, DriveCam records and stores the 10 seconds both before and after an event such as hard breaking or a collision.
Using web technology, the 20 seconds of footage can be downloaded and reviewed by expert driving moderators who score the footage on a risk scale and then provide both the footage and a comprehensive management report to the fleet manager
The management information then enables a fleet manager to build an objective view of the driver’s driving style and highlight problem areas that need attention.
Hibernian said that experience among Irish and US fleets using the technology shows fleet owners can experience anything between a 30pc and a 90pc reduction in claims costs and up to 10pc savings on fuel costs by correcting or identifying poor driving abilities.
For example, a fleet with an annual fuel bill of €2m could save up to €200,000 using the DriveCam technology by introducing efficient driving methods to drivers.
A spokesman for Hibernian said that in most cases the fleet owner never knows about a driver’s near misses and risky driving until after a collision has occurred.
“DriveCam allows the fleet manager to know which drivers are more risky in their driving.
“More importantly, through clip analysis and continuous feedback from DriveCam and coaching of the driver, they can influence and reduce the number of risky events and thereby reduce the likelihood of accidents and claims,” he said.
By John Kennedy