5 minute read
Protect Drivers with Dash Cams
BY ASPHALTPRO STAFF
When a driver following one of Carolina Sunrock’s haul trucks claimed the truck ran a red light, the company was able to show the State Highway Patrol video footage exonerating their driver. This was made possible through Carolina Sunrock’s investment in fleet dash cams from Lytx Inc., San Diego.
Used by more than 1.3 million drivers worldwide, Lytx dash cams can be used to capture video from a number of viewpoints, including front, rear, cargo, cab, left and right views.
“Although there are many benefits, the ones we hear about most often are the visibility into risky driver behavior, the ability to reward and recognize drivers for excellent driver skills, and the overall protection of the drivers, the fleet, and brand,” said Lytx Senior Product Marketing Manager Ofelia Chernock.
Another Lytx customer, Sunstate Equipment Co., Phoenix, uses Lytx’s Driver Safety Program. Since it began using Lytx four years ago, the construction rental equipment company has relied on the system to exonerate its drivers 110 times.
One thing that supported the Sunstate leadership team’s decision to use Lytx was the effectiveness of the program in exonerating its drivers. In the last four years, they have been able to prove the innocence of Sunstate drivers. “Even a small fender-bender with a property damage total of $1,000, if contested, can become a $50,000 claim that can take months to resolve,” Chernock said.
The cloud-connected cameras provide real-time access to live streamed video and up to 100 hours of recorded video per vehicle. Locating relevant segments of footage is made easier by search filters, including time and date, location, and events.
Drivers can tag events manually, such as safety concerns, near collisions and weather conditions, by pressing a blue button on the Lytx dash camera. Managers can then find and review these tags within the Lytx dashboard.
What sets the Lytx dash cam system apart is its machine vision and artificial intelligence (MV+AI) technology to automatically detect more than 60 risky driving behaviors inside and outside the vehicle.
Lytx’s MV+AI technology has learned to identify and log these types of events based on more than 120 billion miles of commercial driving data from all types of vehicles and road conditions. This extensive database is made even more accurate through professional human review to validate and categorize driving behaviors.
These events the MV+AI technology can identify include cell phone use, seat belt use, speeding, inattentiveness, eating and drinking, smoking, failure to stop at intersections, weaving within or departing from lanes, and unsafe following distances, among others. It’s also possible to use Lytx’s MV+AI technology to monitor these events in the form of metadata without the need to record video of the driver.
“When our MV+AI detects risks, the DriveCam event recorder can issue real-time audible alerts to help drivers redirect their attention in the moment to avoid potential collisions,” Chernock said. “Our alerts focus on the moments that matter, using MV+AI technology to identify critical risks while avoiding the distraction and fatigue that can occur when alerts are overly frequent or inaccurate.”
The system can also be configured to trigger real-time, in-cab audio and light alerts to help drivers immediately self-correct risky behaviors. Drivers can also review their own video and performance metrics after the drive to self-coach for continuous improvement from within the Lytx driver app.
Managers will also have access to detailed reports, tracking the duration of persistent behaviors and the percentage of drive time those behaviors consume. The dashboard also offers customizable reporting on fleet safety, with industry benchmarks, progress against internal metrics, and return on investment analysis. Furthermore, footage captured can also be used for safety training with individual drivers or throughout the company.
Lytx can also be used to locate, track and manage fleets in real time. Its GPS-based fleet tracking software tracks vehicle locations and enables full trip replays either in map view or from the camera system. Companies can also set up custom geofences to monitor vehicles entering and exiting designated areas and track arrival and departure times. This set of features can help reduce fuel consumption by tracking idle time, based on reporting from vehicle engine control modules (ECM).
Lytx also offers a Department of Transportation (DOT) compliance service to help users comply with Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandates and improve Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) scores.
Since all Lytx’s cameras are compliant with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations and are equipped with an ECM connection, its ELD system requires no additional hardware, outside of a device (i.e. cell phone) that clients can use to check the driver app.
Lytx’s Hours of Service (HOS) system audits and compiles all HOS records, whether from ELDs, paper logs, time sheets or all three, into a single source. Fleet managers can receive real-time HOS violation alerts, in addition to next day detailed reports on driver logs and remaining hours.
Drivers can use the Lytx driver app to record ELD HOS status and track when they are on and off duty, and when they are due for a break. Drivers can also use the app to complete vehicle inspections as part of Lytx’s Driver Vehicle Inspection Report (DVIR) management service, which streamlines electronic and paper DVIRs into one platform so it’s easier to identify inaccurate or missing data.
The system also helps managers analyze data to see the source of CSA violations so they can take action to improve scores.
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