In an era of widespread driver shortages and increased pressure on HGV drivers in the UK, it is more important than ever to take care of your long-haul drivers. Predicting the economy and filling driver shortages can be out of reach. Luckily, tracking car locations, lorry locations as well as keeping your lorry drivers safe is well within your grasp.
Tracking car locations, as well as your lorry locations, is imperative for keeping your drivers safe. Long-haul journeys are far more likely to be encounter traffic accidents than short-haul journeys. This is because long-haul journeys:
- Encounter more road types
- Risk greater driver fatigue
- Experience greater weather changes
- Often undertaken via HGV vehicle
Luckily, tracking car locations and tracking lorry locations as OBD data helps you take care of your lorry drivers. Read on to find out why tracking car locations is important.
Keep Up By Tracking Car Locations and Lorry Locations
When it comes to taking care of your HGV drivers on the job, it pays to keep a close eye on where exactly they are via GPS technology. Knowing precisely where your drivers are in real-time not only accurately tracks your delivery status, but also takes a load off your mind.
The only failproof way of keeping up with the locations of your HGV drivers, whether in the UK or in Europe, is by acquiring a fleet tracking solution for your business. A good fleet tracking solution, such as Fleet Geo by Vimcar, not only informs you where your HGVs are but also which driver is at the wheel.
Fleet Geo does this by implementing its specially designed driver identification feature. It works like this:
- Each driver receives a Bluetooth device – about the size of a key.
- The device transmits data whenever the driver is near a vehicle installed with a Vimcar Dongle or battery-fitted box tracking hardware.
Read More: How To Install Vimcar’s Fleet Geo In Minutes
This is exactly how tracking car locations and lorry locations with high-quality tracking solutions allows you to increase transparency. It allows you to keep a close eye on all drivers at work and build trust.
Find Out How Long Your HGV Drivers Have Driven For
Long-haul HGV driving has the potential for more dangers to occur than regular short-haul journeys and deliveries. This is because fatigue is more likely to set in when driving over longer hours, with 1 in 8 drivers in the UK admitting to falling asleep at the wheel at least once.
Moreover, there are mandatory legal rest break rules for HGV drivers in the UK. It is imperative that your drivers follow these. This does not only help you avoid heavy fines for breaking these rules but more importantly, keeps your drivers safe by keeping fatigue at bay.
HGV Driver Rest Break Rundown
- Daily rest: HGV drivers must have a daily rest period of at least 24 hours.
- Weekly rest: HGV drivers must observe an uninterrupted rest period of 45 hours per week.
Additionally, HGV drivers must take a 45-minute rest break after 4 and a half hours of continuous driving
Read More: Learn More About Driver Rest Breaks
Tracking car locations and lorry locations with Fleet Geo also lets you record your drivers’ driving hours. Recording these hours keeps them safe by making them accountable for breaking these driving rules.
As a result, your HGV drivers are less likely to break mandatory driver rest break rules if they know that this information is being tracked. The more the rest breaks are observed, the less likely they are to get involved in an accident through tiredness.
Fleet Geo Takes Care Of Your Long-Haul Route Planning
Fleet Geo is a tool that equips your fleet operations with specially designed features to make you more efficient, save you money and uphold driver safety. Next to tracking car locations and lorry locations, dynamic route planning also makes the lives of your drivers easier.
Dynamic route planning automatically takes many factors into account for your long-haul journeys. These include:
- Shop opening hours
- Clean Air Zones
- Bridge Heights
- Roadworks
- Unconventional or potentially hazardous roads
- Mandatory rest breaks
Unlike route planning with Google Maps or commonly used daily route planning solutions, Vimcar’s route planning feature is specifically designed to keep drivers safe while out on the road.
Your drivers will be aware of potentially hazardous areas that could endanger their safety. This is a clear example where precautionary planning is the best action to remain safe.
Driver Style Analysis (DSA): Tackle Poor Driving Early On
One of the biggest threats a long-haul driver can face is their own driver behaviour. This is often highlighted during fatigue while driving for many consecutive hours, with harsh braking, speeding and unsteady cornering counting as the most dangerous actions.
Tracking car locations and lorry locations is an option provided by Vimcar’s Fleet Geo, as is tracking driving behaviour with Vimcar’s Driver Style Analysis (DSA).
Driver Style Analysis (DSA) by Vimcar helps you tackle poor driving early on by identifying poor driving habits with hard data. It uses vehicle information and analysis from your vehicle’s OBD interface to identify the specific driving behaviour patterns. This includes:
- Speeding
- Braking Type
- Acceleration
- Vehicle Idling
- Mobile Usage
Poor driving behaviour also isn’t necessarily overconfidence, but rather another indicator that your drivers may be overworked or tired. You can also use this gathered information for more efficient one-on-ones between fleet manager and driver to improve business processes and keep your drivers alert.
Summary: Tracking Car Locations and Lorry Locations Keeps Your Drivers Safe
It’s no secret that HGV drivers in the UK are more under pressure than ever before. A reduced supply of drivers means higher demand. This is why the importance of installing your fleet with Vimcar’s Fleet Geo fleet tracking solution is greater than ever.
Fleet Geo by Vimcar gives you greater control as a fleet manager. Track your vehicles’ locations as well as who’s at the wheel, make sure that rest breaks are observed and improve your long-haul journey.
Vimcar’s services don’t stop there. Use Fleet Admin to sort and automate time-consuming administrative tasks in one centralised database. As a result, you have more time to spend on more pressing areas of your business.
