The M25 bottleneck east of London is a massive inconvenience to most drivers, but for Thurrock-based Ensignbus, it can rapidly become a “complete nightmare.”
The M25/A13 junction’s slow-moving traffic and the QE2 bridge frequently push traffic onto local roads that too often put Ensignbus’ 120 drivers into conflict with impatient road users. It can quickly lead to risky driving or, worse still, potential collisions.
But, since adopting the Lytx DriveCam Video Telematics Programme, Ensignbus’ near collisions have decreased by 57%.
Reversing trends
Ensignbus Driver Training and Standards Manager Mark Turner-Monk is responsible for the Lytx programme.
Ensign’s directors searched for a solution to improve the already good, safe driving behaviour. As an award-winning medium-size operator, it was important to Ensigbusn to further reduce the potential risks of operating their fleet on some of the most congested roads in the UK.
“Insurance costs are rising in our industry,” says Mark. “Insurance claims in general are on the rise with more alleged accidents and passenger falls. Our policy premiums were going through the roof and we had to demonstrate to our insurance company that we were doing everything we could to limit our exposure to claims.”
Ensignbus initially installed telematics from another supplier, but Mark says it produced ‘mountains of useless data’. “It would tell us there was a hard braking incident at, say, 0955hrs on Tuesday. But, what happened? We hadn’t a clue. How do you take action based on raw data alone?
“We needed to know the root cause to attempt to prevent it from happening again.
“As Driving Standards Manager, I need to know who was driving, where they were, and what had happened inside and outside the bus immediately before and during the incident.”
Pinpointing drivers
It wasn’t until Ensignbus installed the Lytx DriveCam programme that it was able to pinpoint drivers who represented the most risk, and help them improve their driving behaviour.
The Lytx DriveCam safety programme is a telematics solution that combines video capture of road incidents such as hard braking or sudden swerving, with data analysis of those incidents, and personalised coaching insights to enable fleet managers to improve driving behaviour. The net result is reductions of collision-related costs by up to 80%.
“DriveCam is a training tool, not a disciplinary tool,” says Mark. “We look after our drivers – they’re individuals, not numbers. We want them to arrive home safely and to be able to put food on the table for their families. We’re helping them protect their livelihoods by becoming better drivers. The Lytx DriveCam video is the first step in our extensive training programme.”
What and why
The DriveCam video, Mark says, tells both what happened and more importantly, why.
“You can take action on the why – now we don’t have to fight through mountains of irrelevant data to find what happened and the associated risks,” he said. By coaching drivers with specific data-backed insights, Ensignbus reduced its overall coachable driving events by 54%.
It’s also helped it take pre-emptive action with local officials to fix traffic trouble spots.
Mark describes a road junction with a dedicated bus lane, separate from the adjacent car lane that presented a problem.
It was by reviewing the DriveCam footage that Ensignbus had the proof it needed to tackle the problem.
“The sensors on the traffic lights were faulty, clearing the other lane too early, before our bus could make it through the junction,” he said.
“Within the first week of having the DriveCam system, we had two incidents at that junction. We were able to take the video to the local authority who could see for themselves that the sensors weren’t working properly. That’s the value of the video.
“We could see it wasn’t a driver issue at all. It saved us so much hassle from collisions that would have otherwise taken place at that spot.”
Delivery speed
Mark also appreciates the speed with which DriveCam data and video are delivered. Once captured, clips are uploaded and analysed by reviewers, who then deliver them along with coaching insights to a web-based workspace.
“We know quickly what happened and why. We can identify and address the issue and get on with coaching the driver concerned,” he said, adding that the ability to coach drivers using a tablet further enhances the speed of event resolution.
Their insurance company also likes the programme, and it’s seen claims-related events with passengers drop by one-third. The video footage and telematics data is playing an increasing role in dispute resolution and claim handling.
An additional benefit is the ability to identify good drivers. “We’ve had one driver who’s never triggered a coachable event, despite long shifts, a myriad of different buses and driving all our routes,” says Mark. “He’s a model to the company.”
Find out more: Visit www.lytx.com
