CVSA Operation Safe Driver Week to Focus on Speeding

The CVSA Operation Safe Driver Week kicks off on July 11.

The number of miles driven on roads and highways across the United States dropped 13% in 2020 amid the pandemic. At the same time, though, the rate of death on roads increased 24% over the preceding 12-month period. It’s the highest year-over-year increase in nearly a century, the National Safety Council reports.

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance cites that staggering stat as the reason it selected speeding as the focus of its 2021 Operation Safe Driver Week, which is slated to run July 11-17. During that period, law enforcement will be looking out for both commercial vehicle drivers and passenger car drivers engaged in risky behavior on the road.

In addition to speeding, law enforcement will look for other dangerous driving behavior, such as:

Reckless, aggressive and distracted driving
Tailgating
Improper lane change
Not using a seatbelt
Impaired driving

“Data shows that traffic stops and interactions with law enforcement help reduce problematic driving behaviors,” CVSA President Sgt. John Samis said in a statement. “By making contact with drivers during Operation Safe Driver Week, law enforcement personnel aim to make our roadways safer by targeting high-risk driving behaviors.”

Top 5 Violations from Operation Safe Driver Week 2020

During last year’s Operation Safe Driver blitz, law enforcement handed out 6,077 warnings and 4,659 citations to commercial vehicle drivers, according to the CVSA.

The breakdown of citations issued was:

Speeding: 2,339
Failure to use seatbelt: 1,003
Failure to obey traffic control device: 617
Hand-held phone use: 269
Improper lane change: 122

How Telematics Can Help Foster a Safer Fleet

While the CVSA Operation Safe Driver Week lasts just seven days, as a motor carrier you know that safe driving is crucial every day of the year. Telematics and fleet management tools can go a long way toward supporting your safety goals.

Improve Driver Performance
Data from electronic logging devices and dash cams provide actionable insights into safety-critical events, such as speeding and harsh cornering, braking and acceleration. This objective information about driver behavior is a powerful coaching tool.

And the data can be used to foster a culture of safety among drivers, allowing fleet managers to set improvement benchmarks and reward safe driving. Features like the EROAD Driver Leaderboard, which measures your drivers’ performance against that of drivers industrywide, can even spark healthy competition as drivers vie to become the safest in your fleet.

Improve Fleet Health
You can have the best, safest drivers in the industry. But if your physical fleet isn’t in good shape, safety (not to mention your CSA score) is going to suffer. Fleet management tools provide an efficient process for tracking and scheduling vehicle maintenance. Tools like EROAD’s paperless DVIR make it easier for drivers to perform their pre- and post-trip inspections.

And smart trailer tracking solutions add unprecedented, real-time insights into trailer health – brakes, lights, tires and more – that can help fleet managers and drivers identify potential problems before they happen.

With fleet management solutions like our dependable, durable and accurate ELD, Clarity Dashcam and Asset Tracker, EROAD is committed to helping our customers run safe, efficient and successful operations while staying in compliance with FMCSA regulations. Contact us today to learn more.

Smart trailer tracking is much more than just a dot on a map

There are millions of registered trailers in fleets across North America. And, by some accounts, up to 20 percent of them are sitting idle at any given time – clearly an inefficient use of assets that should be generating revenue.

Moreover, motor carriers are often in the dark about the exact location, health and readiness of their trailers. It can all add up to lost revenue, lost opportunities and frustrated drivers who may opt to look for work elsewhere.

The solution is smart trailer tracking.

Smart trailer technology uses GPS and sensors to provide real-time trailer tracking along with accurate, reliable data that can help carriers monitor fleet safety and utilization and make smart decisions to increase profitability and improve driver satisfaction.

1. Maximize Revenue

When it comes to ROI for any new fleet technology, revenue generation is key. Here are ways that smart trailer technology can help you boost revenue.

Trailer Utilization

Before a trailer can generate revenue, you need to answer the questions: Where is it? Is it safe? Is it ready? Smart trailer technology puts that crucial information at your fingertips, helping to ensure that your trailer assets are making money for your business, rather than sitting unused.

Fleet Size and Allocation

Improved trailer utilization may reveal that you’re able to do more with fewer trailers, providing the opportunity to streamline your fleet. Likewise, smart trailer technology can provide insights on how to best allocate your trailer fleet to meet business demands and extend the life of your trailers.

Detention Management

Time lost to detention costs the trucking industry in the U.S. more than $3 billion a year, according to a Federal Motor Carrier Association study. Smart trailer technology enables carriers to more accurately track and bill for detention time.

Theft and Cargo Loss

Cargo theft amounts to up to $35 billion in losses each year, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. Trailer tracking and geofencing coupled with door and cargo sensors can alert fleet managers to a trailer door being opened when it shouldn’t be. GPS tracking also can aid in the recovery of lost or stolen trailers.

2. Improve Safety and Compliance

Fleet safety and regulatory compliance are critical to protecting your drivers and the public, maintaining good CSA scores and ensuring that your business can keep making money. Smart trailer tracking supports those goals with an array of sensors that can alert you to when there is a critical issue with a trailer.

Brakes: Monitor the health of your brakes and ABS lamp function and identify potential problems before they happen.
Tires: Get real time insights into tire pressure and temperature, and the operation of automatic inflation systems.
Lights: Know if you have a light out before your driver gets on the road.
Temperature: Monitor the temperature of refrigerated trailers to ensure you’re meeting FSMA guidelines.

3. Improve Driver Satisfaction

Driver retention was among the American Transportation Research Institute’s Top 10 Trucking Industry Issues for 2021. And a survey by Professional Driver Agency found that equipment quality is among the top three factors that make a carrier attractive to drivers. Smart trailer solutions can help do away with many of the day-to-day headaches that could prompt drivers to seek work elsewhere.

Trailer Location

Too often, drivers are dispatched to a trailer that isn’t where it’s supposed to be. The result for the driver: wasted on-duty time, lost income and a lot of frustration. Smart trailer tracking eliminates this problem, giving you the exact location of all your equipped trailers.

Trailer Health

Even if you know where your trailer is, if it’s not roadworthy your driver isn’t going to be happy. Smart trailer sensors communicate information about tires, brakes and lights – even when the trailer isn’t connected to a tractor – so you’ll never send a driver to a broken trailer.

Trailer Readiness

A cargo sensor can help you ensure that a trailer is ready to roll. As Jim Epler of EROAD partner Phillips Connect explains: “You can’t imagine how many times drivers go to pick up a trailer and it’s got dunnage in it, or it’s loaded and it’s supposed to be empty.”

EROAD Asset Tracker Powered by Phillips Connect

EROAD has partnered with industry leader Phillips Connect to offer a full range of smart trailer and asset tracker devices that provide motor carriers with powerful insights into the location and health of their trailers and other assets.

EROAD Asset Tracker powered by Philips Connect allows you to check lights, brakes and tire pressure remotely, making sure your driver, trailer and loads are safe before they hit the road.
EROAD Asset Tracker devices install in minutes, easily connecting into your trailer’s data network and providing critical safety and status information, along with reliable reporting across your entire fleet.
EROAD Asset Tracker devices are designed to withstand the harsh conditions that commercial trucks operate in. Built to last, these devices are upgradable with add-on sensors that expand the data you monitor.