Category: Vehicle Tracking

Research often proves women drivers to be safer and less accident prone than men, but a new study has shown that women are more likely than men to illegally use their mobile phone while driving.

Out of the 1,200 motorists surveyed by Select Car Leasing, 17 per cent of women admitted to checking their phone from behind the wheel in the past 12 months, compared to 11 per cent of men.

Additionally, a further seven per cent of women said they had sent at least one text whilst in control of a vehicle, compared to four per cent of men.

Of course, women could be being more honest than men but the fact that both sexes readily admitted to messing with their phone from behind the wheel was alarming, said Mark Tongue, company director of Select Car Leasing.

“Overall, our study showed that four in ten drivers admit to checking their phone at least ‘rarely’ while at lights or in traffic – and that’s a concerning stat,” he commented.

“Doing it just the once is enough to put you and other road users in danger. Road safety is everybody’s responsibility. All calls or texts can wait and checking them can be the difference between living and dying.”

Any drivers caught using their phone whilst in control of a vehicle stand to receive six penalty points, a £200 fine and even have their licence revoked for two years.

Age was an important factor in the survey, with drivers aged 18-24 far more likely to be distracted by their phone than motorists above the age of 45.

Overall, 29 per cent of 18-24-year-olds admitted to checking their phone whilst driving in the past 12 months, compared to 15 per cent of 45-54-year-olds and just six per cent of 55-64-year-olds.

Jez Strong, general manager for Tele-Gence, commented: “These findings are alarming yet depressingly unsurprising. Thankfully, fleet bosses can monitor their drivers’ behaviour using telematics.”

Your business can benefit from affordable telematics with no hidden start-up fees or long-term commitments. Find out how at www.tele-gence.com

Blind spots have been something every driver simply has to live with. A-pillars are essentially attaching a car’s roof to the rest of the vehicle and keeping the windscreen in place.

Obscuring a portion of a driver’s view of the road, they pose a safety hazard to pedestrians and vulnerable road users.

However, that is all about to change after Continental revealed what is essentially a see-through A-pillar.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen transparent A-pillars. Jaguar Land Rover was showing them off back in 2014 and Toyota patented the idea in August 2017, but nonetheless, Continental’s take is the latest and perhaps most impressive example so far.

Continental’s Virtual A-Pillar works by tracking the driver’s movements with an interior camera mounted above the steering wheel and displays an image of the vehicle’s exterior environment on the interior OLED displays on the A-pillar, enabling the driver to “see through” it.

With more car makers using the A-pillar to house safety equipment, the advanced technology addresses an increasing issue on newer vehicles that may require even larger front pillars.

A spokesperson from Continental said the driver ultimately feels like they’re looking through an extended window, rather than at a live video feed.

They commented: “By pairing and implementing advanced technology in the vehicle, Continental has created a solution that eliminates the forward blind spots of the A-pillars, helping to reduce a critical safety hazard experienced by so many road users.”

It remains unclear if or when the technology would appear on a production car, but the system is certainly a step forward in improving road safety and minimising the potential for accidents.

Jez Strong, general manager for Tele-Gence, commented: “This is at least the third system that solves the issue of the front pillar obscuring what the driver can see and surely, it’s only a matter of time before this tech reaches modern motorists.”

Your business can benefit from affordable telematics with no hidden start-up fees or long-term commitments. Find out how at www.tele-gence.com

The number of car accidents is expected to climb by more than a third as a result of the clocks going back.

According to insurethebox, accident rates among motorists driving between 5pm and 8pm in the weeks directly following the October clock change increase by 34 per cent.

Data collected by the insurance provider since 2014 shows that male drivers are likely to be involved in a collision after the clock change, with a 37 per cent increase in accidents during the home time rush. In regards to female drivers, this increase drops to 30 per cent.

Faster speeds make accidents more likely at any time of the day, but young drivers who speed at night between midnight and 7am are three times more likely to have an accident than those who speed during the day.

Every part of the UK sees a rise in accidents of at least 25 per cent in those three after-office hours, but drivers in Scotland and the north of England should be extra cautious.

These northern areas report the highest increase in accidents between the hours of 5pm and 8pm after the clock change. In Scotland particularly, accident rates spike by 50 per cent, and 49 per cent in Lancashire and Yorkshire.

A spokesperson for insurethebox said newly qualified drivers were especially at risk due to the lower visibility and wet weather.

“For many young drivers, the evenings after the clock change will be their first experience of driving in the dark, coping with different conditions like reduced visibility,” they said.

Jez Strong, general manager for Tele-Gence, commented: “All motorists can adapt their driving style to accommodate the darker, wetter conditions by travelling at a slower speed than normal and maintaining a greater distance from the car in front to benefit from increased reaction times if necessary.”

Your business can benefit from affordable telematics with no hidden start-up fees or long-term commitments.

Close to a quarter of employers don’t monitor employees who drive for work, according to new research reported by Fleet News.

The study, commissioned by workforce management company BigChange and road safety charity Brake, highlighted a generation gap with older bosses more likely to not bother keeping tabs on their employees’ driving.

More than half of employers (54 per cent) aged over 55 with responsibility for company drivers don’t do anything to monitor or manage driver behaviour. This is despite nine in ten (87 per cent) citing road safety as an important concern.

In contrast, the number of employers failing to monitor driver behaviour dropped to almost one in 20 for business leaders aged 18 to 34. This means young bosses employing company drivers are nine times more likely than older leaders to take steps such as implementing vehicle tracking, license checks and random drug and alcohol testing.

Cyber over driver safety

The study also revealed that cyber security was a more pressing concern than road safety for business leaders.

Some 57 per cent of leaders considered road safety to be ‘very important’ to the operation and reputation of their organisations. This figure rose to 63 per cent when asked about cyber security matters.

Martin Port, chief executive of BigChange, seemed particularly worried by this last point.

“More than 500 people are killed every year in the UK in crashes involving someone driving for work, yet businesses believe cyber security to be more important than road safety,” he said.

“[They] are more likely to spend time and money reducing the risk of being hacked than they are to cut the chances of their people killing someone in the course of their work.”

Joshua Harris, director of campaigns at Brake, added: “People have gone to jail for failing to manage their company drivers properly, yet an alarming number of organisations take no steps whatsoever to monitor their activities.”

Jenny Smith, product manager for Tele-Gence, commented: “This research uncovers some really intriguing factors surrounding driver monitoring.”

Vehicle tracking plays a crucial part in fleet management. Tele-Gence offers improved safety for your drivers, security for your vehicles and reduces costs across your fleet. A remarkably flexible, fully customisable system that can be totally tailored to your fleet requirements. It’s easy to use and supported by a dedicated UK-based team to help you manage your fleet effectively.

A national restaurant supplier has reduced vehicle idling and carbon emissions of its delivery fleet as a result of introducing telematics.

JJ Food Service says it has slashed vehicle idling by 70 per cent, which in turn has had a knock-on decrease of two per cent for total carbon emissions (647.1g/km to 634.8g/km).

Telematics has only been in place on the food wholesalers fleet since January 2018, but within just six months, the amount of time vehicles that were left idling dropped by 55 per cent (or 1,449 hours) a month.

Fuel consumption has benefited too with miles per gallon increasing by 15 per cent to more than 9.6 as drivers began completing deliveries more efficiently.

Sedat Kaan Hendekli, head of operations at JJ Foodservice, said: “The use of telematics has helped us to dramatically improve the efficiency of our drivers resulting in significant fuel savings. Keeping our costs down means we can continue to pass on great savings to our customers.

“Less fuel consumption means a reduction in our environmental impact. Tracking driver behaviour has also shown to improve road safety and reduce the cost of vehicle maintenance – the project has been a great success,” he added.

The supplier has furthered its green ethos by installing solar panels, introducing compostable and biodegradable packaging options, and a totally paperless environment.

Jenny Smith, product manager for Tele-Gence, commented: “This is just one of many happy endings we’re seeing from our telematics customers.”

Vehicle tracking plays a crucial part in fleet management. Tele-Gence offers improved safety for your drivers, security for your vehicles and reduces costs across your fleet. A remarkably flexible, fully customisable system that can be totally tailored to your fleet requirements. It’s easy to use and supported by a dedicated UK-based team to help you manage your fleet effectively.