Another Truck Accident? It’s Your Wakeup Call to Implement Video Telematics-Powered Collision Reconstruction.
Truck or heavy-duty vehicle accidents are common on Indian roads, but contrary to the accepted norm, the bigger vehicle isn’t always at fault. There are several circumstances under which road mishaps happen the other way around — wherein the high-volume vehicles do not cause the mishaps.
When a collision occurs, relevant data such as speeding or harsh braking do paint a picture but do not provide the complete context. That is where video solutions come into play, showing what exactly happened! Fleet managers, when they gain access to the video footage of the incident, can utilize a lot of visual information about the vehicle in question and about the fleet as a whole.
Fleet Safety-Related Challenges on Indian Roads
Limited Visibility
Indian transporters operate with a significant blind spot due to the unavailability of the means to analyze the driver's behavior and other relevant road incidents. This poses a major challenge in ensuring the driver’s and vehicle’s safety. On average, India sees 1317 road accidents and 474 deaths daily, or 55 crashes and 20 fatalities – highlighting the critical need for immediate remedial actions.
Risk of Liability
Lack of video evidence makes it challenging to determine the guilty party. This ambiguity results in higher insurance costs for businesses as they might end up paying for accidents not caused by their vehicles or being involved in lengthy legal disputes.
Limited Scope of Driver Training
Without the option of video representation, businesses don’t have the necessary means to monitor and improve their drivers’ behavior. Issues like aggressive driving, idling, and wastage of time cannot be adequately addressed and driver training given accordingly.
Primary Factors Behind Indian Road Accidents
- Over Speeding – A majority of the Indian road accidents are caused by over speeding vehicles. Preventing the same is a prime concern in ensuring driver and cargo safety.
- Infrastructural Inadequacy – Poor road maintenance, dim lighting, improper signage, and mismanaged traffic conditions are common occurrences on Indian roads.
- Careless Driving or Overtaking – Monitoring dangerous driving prevents the majority of total accidents.
- Avoidance of Safety Rules – Drivers often become habitual in neglecting road safety rules that need strict training.
How Do Road Accidents Impact Transporters?
Blame on Trucks or Bigger Vehicles
Smaller vehicles always suffer more damage than the larger ones, which spontaneously shifts the blame to the bigger vehicles without any investigation into the actual cause. The truck drivers not only have to ensure not to indulge in risky driving, but they also have to watch out for other risky drivers.
Impact on Business Reputation
Accidents can cause reputational harm to the transporter’s business. It can even lead to losing valuable clients. Bad driving habits and non-adherence to rules are too common on Indian roads and lead to businesses losing their clients who disapprove of the drivers.
Associated Costs of Accidents
There are various associated aftermaths of accidents – drivers would require treatments beyond the insurance costs, inoperable vehicles, and prolonged legal proceedings. Several fleets go out of business while handling the damage.
How is Video Telematics-Enabled Collision Reconstruction Helpful?
Some ways in which video telematics ensures fleet safety are:
Crucial in Legal Proceedings
On-demand video availability lets the fleet managers see the actual scenario. In case of a wrongful accusation, video evidence helps in avoiding unnecessary legal expenses and lengthy proceedings. In cases where it is the driver’s fault, video proof helps owners to decide on a dispute settlement instead of a legal battle.
Risky Driving Visibility
Video telematics uses multiple dashcams – facing the road, facing the driver, and more. With such levels of real-time supervision, fleet managers can detect risky driving by using videos from the cameras. Video data from multiple vehicles offers a fleet-level risk analysis. This improves the safety and productivity of the fleet.
Effective Coaching Material
Fleet safety reports provide driver-wise risk reports, giving the fleet managers information on the safest drivers available. The video data of risky driving behavior can also be used to coach drivers and make the sessions more effective. The remote coaching option can also be availed with the video playback option.
How is Fleetx Making Indian Roads Safer With Data-Based Insights?
With 7+ years of industry experience, Fleetx has identified several logistics issues, including:
- Driver training challenges
- Driver safety issues
- No incident accountability
- No incident recreation
- No trip documentation
- No vehicle visibility in real time
To address the issues, the Fleetx solution offers the following features for increased visibility and safety:
- Multi-camera visibility
- 24*7 real-time recording
- ADAS and DMS alerts
- GPS-based alerts
- Driver behavior monitoring
The Road Ahead for Accident Prevention in India
Several innovations are being gradually incorporated into the Indian logistics ecosystem to make it sustainable and future-ready. Certain practices that are expected to deliver positive results include –
Improving Telecommunication Channels
- To ensure complete network coverage across all national and state highways
- Leveraging the collected data, specifically the parameter of GSM strength, to identify the low coverage and high data sharing areas
Component Manufacturers Standardization
India’s focus on improving the export and import links to ensure the supply of key components is strengthening the overall logistics operations of the nation –
- Crucial cybersecurity components such as security modules, GNSS unit, engine interface, etc., will be routinely vetted while testing telematics devices.
- Component standards have to be formulated and implemented to ensure the functional safety and security of parts
Technology Integration
There’s a severe need for India to set rigid cybersecurity standards with –
- Legal boundaries around data collection
- Data processing for a defined purpose
- Serious consequences for personal data breaches
Telematics has a wide scope of expansion in India, and based on the initiatives being taken by the authorities, the future of Indian logistics transportation looks bright.
