Operators are now able to pinpoint areas of risk and apply their own speed limits to those areas for their drivers. They may be the same as the posted speed limit for the zone, or set lower to encourage extra vigilance around areas such as schools. Once they’ve set up a Virtual Speed Camera, operators can monitor speeds in those zones on any web-enabled device.
EROAD customers have been quick to introduce a new level of vigilance around high-risk areas, recording an average speed reduction of 9% in the speed zones they have created since the Virtual Speed Camera was released in December.
While variable speed limits have been set on roads outside many schools, they apply at certain times of day only, and can be difficult to enforce. Schools in rural areas and small towns are more at risk, with drivers having less time to reduce speed from open road limits.
Gradon Conroy, managing director of Designwindows in Hokitika, saw a problem with schoolchildren wandering onto the town’s roads, and decided to do something about it.
“For the first few days of using the Virtual Speed Camera, I was receiving speed alerts for 52-53km/hour. That’s now dropped, so the drivers are certainly slowing down and keeping to the speed limit,” Conroy says.
Operators are able to use Virtual Speed Camera to monitor the speed of any of their vehicles that have EROAD hardware devices installed. If a driver exceeds a speed limit, a notification is immediately emailed to their company via EROAD’s web application.
Whanganui-based Dairy Fresh has incorporated Virtual Speed Camera into its driver incentive programme which rewards drivers for helping to reduce risk.
“Some of our own kids attend the schools that we’re setting reduced speed limits around, so it’s a no-brainer,” Managing Director Nick Walker says.
“EROAD is committed to making roads safer for schools, parents and local communities,” Steven Newman, EROAD CEO, says. “We’re in a unique position of being able to provide transport operators with tools to help address driver behaviour and improve public safety. We’re very excited about Virtual Speed Camera’s ability to reduce risk to the public.”
Transport operators create Virtual Speed Cameras in EROAD’s web application by drawing geofences around areas where they want to monitor speed. They can also opt to monitor speed over time rather than via notifications, with over speed reports generated by the web application.
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