Businesses owning fleets need to have micro-control over how they function. It is the only way to prioritize the safety and compliance of drivers and vehicles — keeping companies from liability and avoidable litigation. How do you plan to safeguard and achieve better control of your on-the-move resources? A driver monitoring system is what you need. In this post, we will discuss everything you need to know about the driver monitoring system, how it works, and the benefits it provides to businesses. Let’s dive right into the content, shall we?
What is Driver Monitoring System?
A Driver Monitoring System (DMS) is essentially a real-time camera-based system that aids driver and vehicle safety. Driver Monitoring System helps collect data related to driver activities inside the cockpit. The real-time alerts and warnings ensure that drivers do not get distracted or drowsy when driving, especially over long routes.
Since drivers can sometimes be working for very long durations, they might lose situational awareness and get distracted. Without a Driver Monitoring System, your fleet is susceptible to accidents, crashes for cash/insurance frauds, and more. The system alerts drivers before collisions, helps drivers improve their performance, and reduces operational costs in the process.
How does Driver Monitoring System work?
A typical driver monitoring system works with the help of a small infrared camera that detects signs of fatigue and distraction. Since the camera is locked on the driver’s face, it identifies the slightest twitch in the driver’s eyes, mouth, and head. However, the infrared camera mostly tracks the eyes — keeping count of the eye blink speed and gaze direction.
The moment DMS detects fatigue or distraction, an alert will be escalated. To make the driver monitoring system work, it is imperative to install the cameras strategically, i.e., the cameras should not obstruct the driver’s vision and should have a clear view of the driver’s face.
What are benefits of Driver Monitoring System?
Now that you are well-acquainted with how the driver monitoring system works, let’s discuss some of its most profitable advantages. Here are the key benefits of driver monitoring systems —
1. Prevents unauthorised vehicle usage.
Fleets stricken with unauthorised usage tend to suffer from significant time and resource wastage. With an effective driver monitoring system, you can identify instances of misuse or unauthorised usage of fleet resources. Moreover, you can detect when drivers use vehicles for personal tasks or take on activities not on their roster. This ensures that company vehicles are used for appropriate tasks only.
2. Prevents crashes for cash and insurance fraud.
Fleets with large vehicles need to be cautious of frauds, especially ones for cash and insurance. Otherwise, they might be liable to pay for deliberate damages, fraudulent claims, lawsuits, and more. This can render your vehicles unfavourable to insurance companies. Driver monitoring system ensures you have proper evidence to use while mitigating risks related to fraud.
3. Prioritises safety of drivers and vehicles.
Monitoring driver performance helps reduce the probability of monthly road accidents by 22 percent. This is because fleet telematics systems promote safer driving and help change driver on-road behaviour. Driver monitoring system comes loaded with monitoring tools that provide drivers with more awareness about their position and the decisions they make on the road. With DMS, video telematics systems can reduce the number of speeding events by up to 60 percent.
4. Boosts driver performance.
Your fleet is as efficient as your drivers. Therefore, you should focus on improving driver performance, which can happen with the driver monitoring system. You can generate insights related to driver behaviour. With DMS, you will have insights for speeding, harsh braking, excessive idling, zig-zag driving, and more. In this way, you can analyze the data and provide the drivers with constructive feedback for performance enhancement.
5. Increases accountability.
Fleets seeking increased accountability can count on a driver monitoring system as it provides real-time driver performance tracking, scheduling, route allocation, and task completion. Installing a driver monitoring system promotes accountability across the fleet, which results in decreased detours, unauthorised usage, and time wastage.
6. Optimises vehicle routes.
Route optimization is an aspect that directly impacts your company’s profitability. Driver Monitoring Systems are designed to deliver real-time insights related to driving patterns on different routes. The data collected can be used to develop effective driver routes. You will have information about vehicle locations and traffic conditions. Route optimization also helps avoid traffic delays and save time.
7. Predictive vehicle maintenance.
Vehicle maintenance is a pillar that effectively holds the productivity of your fleet. Driver monitoring system ensures that vehicles are safe to drive as the insights produced facilitate predictive vehicle maintenance. Once embedded with AI technology and connected with the solution used to record vehicle maintenance, the driver monitoring system can alert companies for maintenance. This will save you time and money.
8. Enhances real-time communication.
Fleets are effective when fleet managers and drivers are able to communicate and coordinate efficiently. Driver monitoring systems eliminate all communication gaps by facilitating real-time communication. With DMS, managers can pass on information and instructions critical to the fleet’s performance. This way, you can eliminate delays and boost productivity throughout the supply chain.
9. Lower overhead costs.
Driver monitoring system helps save money. It does this by regulating driver behaviour, which can further positively impact vehicle condition and boost its longevity. Moreover, driver behaviour regulation reduces vehicle idling which improves fuel efficiency and reduces associated expenses. Since you have video footage, you will be well prepared to fight false litigations and identify theft. Most importantly, analytics helps to optimize fleet operations which eventually saves your company money.
10. Fosters scalability.
Driver monitoring systems from FleetRobo can make it feasible for companies to scale their fleet. Scalability improves as the driver monitoring system is easy to replicate across new fleets. This results in efficient communication and coordination which is paramount when expanding business operations. Thus, the decision to scale quickly will not jeopardise productivity and efficiency.
Invest in Video Telematics solution
Your fleet needs a driver monitoring system and other video telematics integrations to boost productivity. If you are looking for driver monitoring systems, you should invest in FleetRobo’s video telematics solution. Here’s what our Video Telematics solution has to offer —
- Enhanced safety
- Asset protection
- Improved compliance
- Reduced operational costs
- Peace of mind
Connect with us and we’ll schedule an appointment with our video telematics expert. Our ability to provide customized video telematics solutions will ensure you have a solution that resolves all your fleet management challenges.
Article you might be interested in How to Overcome Fleet Driver Fatigue Strategically?
Final thoughts on driver monitoring system benefits!
There you have it. We shared everything you need to know about using a driver monitoring system. We discussed the basics of driver monitoring systems and how they benefit companies that have a heavy reliance on fleet management. Moreover, it is a massive opportunity for market dominance as almost all logistics-associated industries are leveraging the technology. As the driver monitoring system is a major part of video telematics, we highly recommend you invest in our Video Telematics systems as we couple it with the Advanced Driver Assist System (ADAS) and reporting features. Connect with our experts and we’ll show precisely how our Video Telematics solution will provide value to your business.
