By CEO Sue Spradley and former CRO CJ Meurell.
In-cab cameras are terrific at recording events in the cab, including just before an accident or distracted-driving event. However, cameras can only tell fleet managers what happened—they do not prevent distracted-driving accidents caused by drivers’ unsafe use of their mobile devices while behind the wheel.
In fact, more than 50% of Motion Intelligence fleet customers were utilizing in-vehicle cameras before choosing to implement our Evvy App. The installed camera revealed the drivers were indeed using their devices while driving, and video evidence began piling up. Once a fleet has video evidence of a driver using their mobile device while driving they must take punitive action, which is typically termination. This leads to a higher driver turnover, additional recruiting and training costs, and lost productivity.
If the fleet does nothing to address the driver’s dangerous behavior and the driver eventually causes an accident, the ensuing lawsuit could uncover the fact that the fleet had evidence of a distracted-driving problem but did nothing to curb the driver’s behavior. In these cases, juries tend to deliver nuclear verdicts, causing the fleet and its insurer to pay out extreme amounts of settlement money. In order to help drivers improve their behavior and reduce safety policy infractions, fleets need a solution to address the root cause of the issue: technology addiction.
Studies have proven that we “reach for” and “look at” our mobile device more than 47 times a day — and this action doesn’t stop while we are driving. When someone messages us in WhatsApp, sends us a text, or likes our post on Facebook, we hear a “ping and a ding” that sends our brains a dopamine rush. The dopamine affects the part of our brain that manages our logic, and even if there is a camera watching our every move, we will reach for our mobile device to check in. This is the technology addiction drivers are dealing with that a preventative app, like our Evvy App, can address but cameras cannot.
Some in-cab camera technology can detect whether a driver is looking down or away from the road. However, even if they look down and the camera detects it, the driver is still not prevented from using the mobile device. We are heartened that companies are continuing to find ways to address distracted driving, including through the use of cameras with enhanced detection features—we need all solutions on the table to address the deadly, costly problem of distracted driving. Cameras are complementary, in that they help company managers see the behavior and address it, but it is an option like our Motion Intelligence solution, complete with the Evvy App on the drivers’ mobile devices and the MotionIQ Evvy Manager dashboard for fleet managers to monitor use and manage driver behavior, that can stop the technology addiction cycle and train drivers how best to engage safely with technology while behind the wheel.
The Evvy App takes distracted driving due to mobile devices off the table. The driver’s behavior is changed for the better, the fleet brand is protected, and lives are saved.
