Fleet insurance specialist and commercial broker McCarron Coates has urged coach and bus operators to make determined efforts to properly utilise data generated by camera and telematics systems and embed analysis of such insight into their company culture.
The Leeds business notes how many operators have already invested in telematics systems and other tools to provide information on driver behaviour, but that “a significant number” then fail to interrogate the data generated.
It also points to the Road Safety Strategy, adding that the government sees data as having a clear role in reducing the number of incidents and deaths on Britain’s roads.
McCarron Coates adds that its in-house claims team utilises such camera and telematics data to address claims scenarios and spot trends in claims experiences. When members of that team request historical analysis for comparison, it is often unavailable from operators.
Such a position is depriving those parties from reducing their risk on the road, the supplier continues. “Not using dashboards and reports, or viewing footage provided by cameras, allows poor behaviours to continue and faults to remain unaddressed,” McCarron Coates says.
“It can also potential cause defects to remain in place, effectively knocking out of action some of the safety tools on which operators should be able to call.”
The business cites workload pressures, lack of training and a failure to implement systems that could cascade data revelations into positive risk management as factors behind the lack of leverage. While that has been “a huge missed opportunity” so far, McCarron Coates believe that things are now changing.
It points out how the Road Safety Strategy “offers early indications that in a drive for higher safety standards, regulators will expect operators to have a data-led safety approach.”
The supplier believe that future investigations into road incidents will probe what data was available and what action was taken in response to analysis. Failure to act on the data “could eventually be deemed as bad as not having had telematic and camera data available at all,” it continues.
Such messaging is endorsed by McCarron Coates and its RTC Crisis Line, which is offered free to every client. It gives dedicated and face-to-face legal representation to drivers should an incident on the road lead to police investigation. That can include putting forward mitigating circumstances.
Data is already something that can help an operator and the employer of the driver involved in an incident to avoid legal ramifications for any action taken by the driver.
“If an operator can demonstrate that it utilised data to pinpoint and address issues in the driver’s driving behaviours, or [to] keep on top of vehicle maintenance, it can be hugely advantageous,” McCarron Coates adds.
It notes how use of data in that way is something that authorities “are increasingly likely to want to see becoming the norm, not the exception,” and that operators not learning from what data shows them may be viewed as having failed to run a fleet proficiently.”
Director Ian McCarron (pictured, top) underlines that use of telematics data “needs to be embedded in the corporate culture of fleets right now, before the regulator deems this absolute required practice, rather than best practice.”
He adds that McCarron Coates has seen how data analysis is not at the top of the list for action by many fleet managers, instead being something out of sight and out of mind.
Continues Director Paul Coates (pictured, lower): “We can perform a lot of hand-holding in the early days, ensuring that the fleet manager becomes confident in drawing down and analysing their data, knowing what to look for, and having a clear idea of what actions they should take in order to improve fleet efficiencies and driver behaviours.
“Once they have got over that hurdle of using data in the business, it usually becomes second nature. When the use of data then results in positive outcomes, such as claims reductions and lower premiums, the desire for even more data typically increases.”
