Dozens of fleets, technology vendors, insurance carriers, and regulators met together in Orlando, Florida for the 2021 NPTC Safety Conference. During the event, the Idelic team had the opportunity to sit in on a number of educational sessions covering our industry’s greatest challenges. Here are our takeaways:
#1: There’s No Indication Nuclear Verdicts Are Going Away
Scott Carey and Mark Barber of the transportation defense firm Baker Donelson shared some harrowing statistics during their presentation “Avoiding Nuclear Verdicts in Catastrophic Accident Cases” that show Nuclear Verdicts aren’t going away any time soon. Not only are $1+ million verdicts 335% more common than five years ago, but the average size of a large verdict is up 967% over the same time period.
Even worse: Despite a major drop in miles driven during 2020, the total number of fatal crashes actually increased by 8% over the previous year. Unless fleets take action to protect themselves, they could fall victim to a Nuclear Verdict.
#2: Driver Assistance Systems Have Potential, But They’re Not Perfect
ATRI’s Senior Vice President, Dan Murray, gave a rousing speech on the potential for active in-cab safety technology in his talk “Trucking Issues & Opportunities Associated with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems.” The latest research on advanced driver assistance systems, which includes technologies like automatic braking, intelligent speed control, and lane assistance systems, is promising: Early implementation has yielded upwards of a 20% reduction in crashes.
Unfortunately, the consensus is that full self-driving technology is dangerous in its current form when relied upon exclusively and that, in Dan Murray’s words, it won’t be safely implemented “while I’m still alive.”
#3: Fleets Are Increasingly Looking for Technology Solutions to Safety Problems
While advanced driver assistance systems aren’t fully fleshed out yet, fleets are seeing major success with other forms of technology. Over 70% of fleets use a GPS tracking device of some kind. ELDs are mandated across the industry for commercial trucks traveling more than 150 air miles. In-cab cameras, while controversial at some fleets, are producing valuable safety data and providing hard evidence surrounding the facts of each crash they’re present for.
However, one of the largest technology problems facing fleets today is that with dozens of different systems generating valuable data, it can be difficult to see the underlying safety, risk, and behavioral trends buried within the mass of their data.
How to Get More From Your Fleet Data
To take control of the disparate data from your ELDs, cameras, training software, HR tools, asset management systems, and more, you need a solution that gives you control of your data in a single platform.
The Idelic Safety Suite® is the most comprehensive driver management platform in the trucking industry, consolidating all of a fleet’s disparate technology systems under a single platform. Gain a 360° view of your fleet’s performance with Safety Suite’s Fleet Performance Dashboard and reporting functions. Instantly access canned reports on your fleet’s compliance, accidents, and claims, as well as build custom reports on any and all safety data within the platform.
If you’d like to learn more about how Safety Suite can help your fleet gain control of its data, watch a 2-minute demo video or sign up for a consultation with a safety expert here.