SynX Blog

A recent study conducted by the Dutch Institute for Road Safety has shown that a significant and increasing number of drivers plays videogames while behind the wheel: in 2019, 8.2 per cent of the drivers interviewed admitted they had sometimes played games while driving, an increase of the 3 per cent from a 2017 survey. 70 per cent of drivers have admitted to use their mobile phones in some way while driving. Despite the different restrictions in force in the European countries and internationally, distracted driving remains a growing concern.

According to the WHO, drivers using mobile phones are 4 times more likely to be involved in a crash than drivers not using a mobile phone, as using a phone while driving slows reaction times (notably braking reaction time, but also reaction to traffic signals) and makes it difficult to keep in the correct lane, and to keep the correct following distances.

According to different sources, with the lockdown distracted and dangerous driving have increased despite the traffic increasing in some countries, adding up to the risk associated with the driving profession and those deriving from the spread of Coronavirus.

The use of mobile phones behind the wheel can lead to different driver distractions:

• Visual (the eyes are not looking at the road);
• Cognitive (the mind is off the road);
• Physical (the hands are on the phone and not on the steering wheel);
• Auditory (minor, but referring to the ringing of the phone or notifications sounds).

Not having your eyes, mind, hands and ears on the road can have the same impact as being impaired because of drug or drink driving, provoking slower reaction, erratic driving and trouble in maintaining appropriate speed or distance, with a global reaction of driver awareness that can lead to serious consequences. Commercial drivers are especially at risk now because of the repetitiveness and multitasking nature of their job and as their mental health can be more influenced by the extra risks coming into place with COVID-19. Make sure you support your driving team and talk to us if you want to learn more on how to eliminate distracted driving in your fleet.

Photo by melissa mjoen on Unsplash

Global Fleet Champions, a not-for-profit global campaign to prevent crashes and reduce pollution caused by vehicles used for work purposes created by Brake, the road safety charity, has recently published a new valuable resource to help fleet managers tackle the challenges coming up with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The resource is a factsheet entitled Advice for fleet managers: Managing road risk during the COVID-19 pandemic, that covers some of the key road safety issues that have emerged with the Coronavirus crisis:

• Recruiting drivers to cover for possible absence/sick leave/quarantine of the workforce;
• Meeting an increased demand for deliveries;
• Ensuring a safe driving behaviour is taking place all the time;
• Reducing risks for cyclists or walkers as people tend to take public transport less.

As some research has revealed, quieter roads may lead to distraction or tempt drivers to speed, and the pressures of lockdown may encourage drivers who drink to drink more or consume drugs.

The factsheet gives simple tips on how to manage journeys, ensure vehicle safety, and look after driver wellbeing especially those coming back from lockdown, as well as giving guidance on what to consider when recruiting and training new drivers to meet increased demands for deliveries and other services.

Scott Williams, head of programme delivery at Brake, the road safety charity, said: “COVID-19 has changed the road environment around the world and has created new challenges for fleet managers. It is more important than ever that fleet managers review their policies and procedures to manage work-related road risk."

You can find the resource on the Global Fleet Champions website at https://globalfleetchampions.org/resources/factsheet-managing-road-risk-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/.

According to a survey carried out by CameraMatics and made public by Fleet News, the majority of HGV drivers do not carry out walkaround checks before starting their journeys. The survey was conducted on more than 500 drivers, both in Ireland and in the UK, to ask about the frequency of vehicle inspections.

2 in 5 HGV drivers (39.3%) said they never do walkaround checks, and a further 15.8% rarely complete checks, totalling more than half (55.1%) of respondents not carrying out regular walkaround checks. Just under a third of the interviewed (29.4%) completes these vehicle checks, with 15.5% doing it regularly.

The DVSA reported in January 2020 that 85% of lorry defects can be picked up during a walkaround check. Drivers and their companies can get fines and sanctions or even a prison sentence if they use vehicles that are not roadworthy or cause an accident that could have been prevented with adequate walkaround vehicle checks.

According to the same survey, more than 50% of the over 250 HGV fleet managers interviewed use a pen and paper system for checks.

Our walkaround app, available with SynX Maintain, can help you streamline the vehicle inspection process, comes with an HGV checklist that is customisable depending on the needs of every fleet and company - don't hesitate to contact us to learn more: not having a reliable system for walkaround checks can cost you a lot.

With the coronavirus pandemic still growing and no solution or vaccine being ready, the future of vans and cars will presumably be different, with car journeys under scrutiny and carried out only if absolutely necessary, while for vans journey the approach will be more towards efficiency, with the need for vans as goods delivery vehicles being clear.

With the need of minimising close contact between people and videoconferencing proposed as an alternative, it seems there will be a reduction in the use of fleet cars and company cars, while van trips are being undertaken as the reason behind them is generally because a delivery is needed or a contractor is required in a particular place.

According to a recent survey carried out by Fleet News, fewer vans than company cars have been standing idle during lockdown. Two-in-five fleets (41.5%) said they were operating more than 75% of their light commercial vehicles (LCVs), while according to more than half the respondents (57.3%) the majority of company cars they operate were not being driven for work. More than two-in-five (43.3%) said that less than a third of the vehicles on their company car fleet were being driven for work.

It seems company cars will probably carry out less journeys as long as COVID-19 is not under control, although business visits will continue to be important as well as company cars as employee benefit. The pandemic will probably lead to a change in our habits and vision connected to company cars.

The annual Fleet Transport Awards event, which was scheduled on October 1st, 2020 to take place in Dublin, is going virtual because of the uncertainties around travelling and gatherings.

The 15th edition of the event will focus on the Transport Heros: haulage, logistic companies and passenger transport operators will be celebrated and honoured for their COVID-19 response. The nominations will soon be announced.

The annual Irish Truck of the Year Awards, is also changing and the categories of the Best Fleet Truck Brand of the Year Award 2021 and the Best Fleet Van Brand of the Year Award 2021 will be introduced, with judging criteria here including responses from the truck distributors and fleet operators running multibrand vehicles.

"With an event of its size, we had to consider the health and safety of our patrons, attendees, sponsors and exhibitors. Therefore, we are hosting the Fleet Transport Awards event online on the planned date of Thursday, 1 October 2020,” explained Jarlath Sweeney, Group Editor, Fleet Publications.

“We look forward to getting back to the ‘big stage’ event next year with a special setting but in the meantime we are planning an interesting online presentation of our awards on our set date, presented once again by RTE Radio 1 presenter Shay Byrne,” he concluded.

COVID-19 has already both officially and unofficially imposed changes on the way we do things, but chances are that the list is going to continue.

The lockdown measures and the new normal state in which extreme caution is recommended as well as avoiding possible sources of unnecessary contact have resulted in fleet managers having to control their vehicles from home. Particularly, a survey carried out by Fleet News has shown that a huge majority of fleet managers and decision-makers (around 73% of the interviewed) were working from home while only one in ten was working from home and the office and just around 15% was in the office on a full-time basis.

Those who drive their car for work, that is, the so-called members of what is known as grey fleets, might also see the consequences of that. If employees will become home-based in the future and no longer office-based, the journeys they will take for the purpose of their job will most likely be seen as business trips although they start from the home of the employee - and their contact and conditions might also change accordingly.

With people tending to rely less on public transport to seek for a higher personal security, chances are that personal vehicles would end up being driven for work purposes and become part of the grey fleet - with employers having the legal obligation that those vehicles are safe to be used and fit for their purpose.

If you are looking into controlling your fleet from home (or any other place) or recording and differentiate business and personal trips, be aware this is not something new for us at Transpoco - talk to us to learn how to do it with our fleet management solution.

The data that we can get today from our vehicles and devices are invaluable resources that can help us drive our business forward by making informed decisions. Fleet telematics is helping companies that rely on driving to collect data and convert it in a more digestible format to provide actionable insights on a number of metrics, such as fuel consumption, vehicle activity or driver behaviour, to mention just a few.

We have already dealt with seasonality in fleets in the past and with how telematics and vehicle data) can help companies forecast their fleet workload. In times of COVID-19, that is, the unprecedented period we are all currently living, telematics data can help us determine, through the visualization of effective vehicle activity, what might be the impact of the pandemic and the lockdown not only on transport, logistics and supply chain, but also on the global activity, on when a recovery might be expected and on how we can all get together to help beat the virus and make economy thrive again.

The team at Transpoco has been able to capture the data generated from operating and non-operating vehicles in Ireland thanks to their telematics and tracking system providing updates every 30-60 seconds from working vehicles and every hour from inactive vehicles, and to convert those data into an insightful chart.

The line chart starts on the left side displaying the traffic of a normal week, pre-COVID-19 (see 1st to 7th March). The following 2 weeks refer to the start of the voluntary work from home and to St. Patrick's Day, during which we experienced the first signs of drop in the driving activity. The Transpoco team itself started to work from home.

Between 12th and 27th March, 2020, during the period known as Delay Phase, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced the closure of all schools, colleges and childcare facilities until 29th March, one day after the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, with the total cases in the country ranging from the initial figure of 70 on March 12th to the total of 1,819 cases and 19 deaths confirmed on March 26th. The Delay Phase is matching a 30% decrease in traffic in the aforementioned dates in the vehicle data chart.

During the Stay at Home Phase, which took place from 27th March to 5th May, 2020, traffic in Ireland has dropped a 50%, with lockdown at its peak as well as, unfortunately, the spreading of the virus, that brought the total of 21,772 cases and 1,319 deaths on May 4th.

The data chart continues to mirror the situation in Ireland as it is slowly going back to an 80% of the original traffic towards the end of May, with the start of the Easing of restrictions phase, that started on May 5th and is still ongoing.

This is just an example of how companies and governments could easily obtain this level of business intelligence to support COVID-19 efforts and local communities in the economic recovery.

According to Andrew Fleury, CEO at Transpoco, "The last few months have certainly been one of the most frightening and strangest periods in living memory in terms of public health, but also very worrying from a business perspective. In Ireland, we had little choice but to put the restrictions in place having seen the horrific impact of COVID-19 in continental Europe, but now it seems as though we are gradually moving past the worst of this time and we can begin to put everything back together."

Fleury adds: "We have been monitoring the driving distances of vehicles in Ireland since the start of the pandemic, this data has served as a barometer for the activity of our customers during this time. It is really encouraging to see the businesses getting back to work whilst the public health statistics continue to improve each day. Like everyone else in the world, Transpoco's way of working was disrupted but I am really proud of our team who constantly put customers' needs first and have continued to deliver first class service from our bedrooms, kitchen tables and even our gardens on some of the sunnier days. We know the recovery will be hard, but we are here to help at Transpoco, so if any of our customers need our assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out."

 

Since the lockdown, the spread of COVID-19 has led to changes in protocols in every activity, with the aim of minimising the impact of the illness and avoiding its spread. Now companies are gradually going back to their activity and will need support in preparing their business to be up and running again in a COVID-19 world. This is why the Health and Safety Authority of Ireland has created a series of resources based on the Government’s Return to Work Safely Protocol. 

 

The resources created by the HSA and available on their website consider COVID-19 from different perspectives. What is usually necessary in order to prevent risk is to get an adequate preparation, to share knowledge across the company, to establish roles in the prevention of risks and to have procedures in case of  contact with the risk.

• A return to work form - to be answered by the employees about to resume work;
• A response plan - establishing worker representatives taking responsibilities for the implementation of security measures and regular checks;
• A serie of checklists for the employer - that aim at controlling the preparation of the company, the induction process that should include anti COVID-19 measures, the improved cleaning and disinfection measures and the eventuality of dealing with a case of COVID-19;
• An employee checklist - with a training purpose;
• A worker representative checklist - to help worker representatives understand their roles.

If you wish further help in getting your business relying on driving COVID-19 free you can download our driver checklist or contact us.