An Editor’s Q&A with Sue Greenway, sector general manager at DriveCam Inc.

Sue Greenway is a sector general manager at DriveCam leading a team with deep vertical expertise in the transit and motorcoach industries. The editors of DriveCam’s In the Driver’s Seat e-newsletter recently caught up with Sue and spoke with her about the unique safety concerns of transit and motorcoach organizations and DriveCam’s work with international customers.

Editor: What brought you to DriveCam?

SG: I was looking for a new opportunity in a growing industry and a chance to deliver real value to customers. I also was attracted to the prospect of working with customers who are excited about the solution DriveCam offers. My most enjoyable experiences in my role at DriveCam are those in which I get to know customers and their unique safety needs and understand the tremendous value the DriveCam solution brings to their organizations. The fact that we save lives is a big plus.

Editor: What markets do you and your team specialize in and what are the unique safety needs of these markets?

SG: My team and I specialize in transit and motorcoach. These are industries with large, expensive vehicles transporting precious cargo – people. Our customers are very concerned with keeping their drivers, passengers and those who share the roadways with them safe. Our customers want to deliver a high degree of customer service to the passengers who ride their buses and paratransit vehicles. They also are concerned with the safety of their drivers. The presence of the DriveCam video event recorder and its panic button feature (which can be manually triggered by drivers) has helped to deter crime on transit vehicles. In one instance, a passenger threatened a driver with a knife before disembarking from the bus and walking away. With the help of the video evidence captured on the DriveCam video event recorder, police were able to identify and arrest the passenger a short while later.

Editor: You recently attended the annual APTA Bus & Paratransit Conference in Nashville. What was that like?

SG: I was excited to see that a number of DriveCam customers, including Laidlaw Transit Services and MV Transportation were recognized at the opening session of the conference with 2007 Bus Safety Awards. The APTA Bus Safety Awards recognize public transportation organizations and contractors for their positive safety records and dedication to improving safety.

There also was a lot of talk about the DriveCam solution as it relates to quality of service. In fact, a quality of service track was one of the most popular at the conference and a primary theme seemed to be that overall improvements in safety support improvements in quality of service delivered to customers.

Editor: You work with international customers. What are the unique safety needs or concerns of these organizations?

SG: We work closely with two of the largest bus companies in the U.K. and are working with bus companies in South Africa and Australia as well. Essentially, their needs and concerns are the same as domestic organizations. They still have a need for passenger safety and while they also are concerned about driver safety, many already have invested heavily in surveillance cameras to protect drivers so this has helped deter criminal activity.

Editor: Please tell us something about yourself that most people would not know.

SG: I grew up in Australia and have lived in four cities in three countries during my lifetime. I came to California almost 30 years ago and became a U.S. citizen in 2004.