In The Driver's Seat | January-February 2010

In This Issue

• San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Implements DriveCam Across Entire Fleet
• 2010 DriveCam Academy Schedule Announced
• Traffic Fatalities Down 7 Percent in First Half of 2009
• New Distracted Driving Video Highlights Issue … and Creates Change
• NSC Releases Wireless Communications Survey Results
• Winter Driving Tips

• San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Implements DriveCam Across Entire Fleet

   San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which operates the Municipal Railway (Muni), recently selected DriveCam as its exclusive provider of behavior-based risk mitigation solutions to improve the safety of its fleet and reduce vehicle damages, personal injury and driver and passenger compensation claims costs associated with transit operations.

  The DriveCam program has been rolled out throughout the SFMTA and is now deployed on 100 percent of the Muni bus fleet.

  “We believe this new system will help us improve safety on the Muni system,” said SFMTA. Executive Director/Chief Executive Officer Nathaniel P. Ford Sr. “DriveCam shares our commitment to safe driving and we are encouraged by their cutting-edge technology and their commitment to bringing to the transit industry the best practices they’ve applied to Driver Risk Management.”

  “With large vehicles and a mix of stop-and-go driving in densely populated areas, transit buses have many safety challenges,” said Brandon Nixon, DriveCam CEO. “DriveCam’s solution enables clients like the SFMTA to proactively protect the safety of their drivers and the passengers they serve by identifying and correcting risky driving behaviors. We are proud to have the SFMTA part of our client portfolio.”
  

   

• 2010 DriveCam Academy Schedule Announced

  Mark Your Calendar: DriveCam 2009 Academy Schedule

  March 30, 2010 Dallas, TX

  May 11, 2010 Newark, NJ

  August 10, 2010 Orange County/LA, CA

  October 19, 2010 Chicago, IL

  Presented by DriveCam’s leading safety expert, Del Lisk, the DriveCam Academy is a one-day session dedicated to presenting and sharing advanced techniques for optimizing your use of the DriveCam program. The course is ideal for clients currently using the program but looking for ideas on how to maximize results. This is also an excellent environment for those considering a DriveCam deployment but seeking guidance on how to put it all together. The 2010 fee for attendance is $295 per individual (confirm with Del).

  Come to this session to learn:

  • The essential steps for success with the DriveCam program
  • How to monitor program effectiveness
  • How to analyze complex videos
  • Surefire tips to maximize effective driver coaching
  • Key functionality that may not have been available when you deployed your DriveCam program
  • And much, much more

  Space is limited. For information, or to enroll in one of the sessions, please call 866-419-5861 and ask for Del Lisk or e-mail your request to dlisk@drivecam.com

  

• Traffic Fatalities Down 7 Percent in First Half of 2009

  A statistical projection of traffic fatalities for the first half of 2009 shows that an estimated 16,626 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently reported. This represents a decline of about 7 percent as compared to the 17,871 fatalities that occurred in the first half of 2008.

  Fatalities declined by about 10 percent in the first quarter and declined by about 4 percent in the second quarter of 2009, as compared to the respective quarters in 2008. The second quarter of 2009 will be the 13th consecutive quarter of declines in fatalities as compared to the same quarter from the previous year, NHTSA said.

  Traffic fatalities have been declining steadily since reaching a near-term peak in 2005. Preliminary data reported by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) shows that vehicle miles traveled in the first half of 2009 dropped by about 6.1 billion miles, or about a 0.4-percent decline. On a quarterly basis, the vehicle miles traveled dropped by 1.7 percent during the first quarter and increased by 0.7 percent in the second quarter.

   

  

• New Distracted Driving Video Highlights Issue … and Creates Change

  Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that texting and the use of cellular phones while driving is big news. In fact, as a result of the recent Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) study and the news it garnered, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, held a Distracted Driving Summit in September. In planning the meeting, Secretary LaHood said, “If it were up to me, I would ban drivers from texting, but unfortunately, laws aren’t always enough. We’ve learned from past safety awareness campaigns that it takes a coordinated strategy combining education and enforcement to get results.” Added Secretary LaHood, “The bottom line is … distracted driving is dangerous driving.”

  In response to the news the Summit garnered and the attention it brought to this epidemic, DriveCam created a video of distracted driving events – all culled from DriveCam’s database of over 15 million driving events – that has now been seen by every Senator, Congressman, Governor and public official involved in legislating and changing driver behavior.

  Take a look at the video so you can truly understand the extent of the problem, and know that DriveCam is making a difference. With real-time video capturing the critical seconds before and after an event, we are the best service to tell people what is really going on in their vehicles (both commercial and consumer).

  In 2008, 5,870 people lost their lives and an estimated 515,000 people were injured in crashes in which at least one form of driver distraction occurred. Courtesy of the Naturalist Driving Study conducted by Virginia Tech Transportation Institute for NHTSA, driver involvements in secondary tasks contributed to over 22% of all crashes and near-crashes recorded.

  Over 120,000 vehicles are equipped with DriveCam and we’re capturing over 700,000 driving events every month. We see the problem first-hand and we want to help stop it. In fact, we were an active participant in the recent Distracted Driving Summit (mentioned above) and support Bill S. 1536 – Avoiding Life-Endangering and Reckless Texting by Drivers (ALERT Drivers) Act.

  The elimination of texting will take a three-fold approach. It needs to be a combination of strong regulation/ legislation, public awareness campaigns about the dangers of texting and a video-based monitoring and coaching tool, such as DriveCam.

  We’ve been studying the problem for a dozen years and can provide the technology and services that enable compliance with the new regulations, along with helping drivers become more safety conscious on our roads. DriveCam is committed to working with all government agencies, commercial companies and contractors to assist with their compliance of these new regulations.

  

• NSC Releases Wireless Communications Survey Results

  In August, 2009, more than 2,000 National Safety Council members responded to a survey on employee use of wireless communication devices while driving. Below are some surprising results:

  The results

  • 58 percent of respondents have some kind of cell phone ban in place
  • 469 companies prohibit both handheld and hands-free devices while driving for some or all employees.
  • 99 percent of companies that ban both handheld and hands-free devices have experienced no decrease in employee productivity

  More than one-third of respondents without any policy expect to implement one within the next 12 months

  Handheld vs. Hands-Free

  Half of the respondents currently prohibiting only handheld devices report they are "somewhat" to "very likely" to upgrade their policies to include banning hands-free phones. NSC does not support policies that ban only hands-free devices. The best practice is to ban all cell phone use while driving. Research has shown there are no safety benefits to hands-free phones. The distraction comes from the conversation itself more than where the drivers' hands are placed.

  Two barriers to implementing policies commonly reported in the survey were productivity and employee acceptance.

  

  Productivity

  As mentioned above, only 1 percent of respondents experienced a decrease in productivity. A few companies actually had productivity increases. One company mentioned an unexpected benefit - decreased expenses for wireless devices.

  Next steps

  Using cell phones while driving has become part of American culture, but businesses can help lead the cultural change. To get involved, contact the National Safety Council or visit www.nsc.org.

• Winter Driving Tips

  With the first snow of the year there is always a learning curve for drivers, not only ours but the ones we share the road with. Please remind your drivers of the following tips for winter driving:

  1. Reduce your speed and leave yourself plenty of room to stop. Allow at least three times more space than usual between you and the car in front of you.

  2. Brake gently to avoid skidding. If your wheels start to lock up, ease off the brake.

  3. Turn on your lights to increase your visibility to other motorists.

  4. Keep your lights and windshield clean.

  5. Use low gears to keep traction, especially on hills.

  6. Don't use cruise control or overdrive on icy roads.

  7. Be especially careful on bridges, overpasses and infrequently traveled roads, which will freeze first.

  8. Don't pass snow plows and sanding trucks. The drivers have limited visibility, and you're likely to find the road in front of them worse than the road behind.

  9. Don't assume your vehicle can handle all conditions. Even four-wheel and front-wheel

  drive vehicles can encounter trouble on winter roads.

  Reproduced with permission from EIA.