1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188 
IN FOCUS DUTY OF CARE
Page 49
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide Act came into effect in April, and has raised awareness among company directors and managers about their legal responsibilities towards the drivers they employ. 'Companies should start logging their responses to such incidences as speeding and what actions they have taken over employees' behaviour," advises Martin Otter, Masternaut safety manager.
"Many telematics systems already record harsh acceleration and braking to identify where fuel economy might be improved. If you can identify the driver as well, that same data can show you who is driving a bit recklessly or inappropriately for that particular road."
Culture plays a part, says Otter. "Below 7.5 tonnes there is no legal regulation of drivers and no tachograph to monitor driver compliance. The risk, therefore, is higher that these drivers will behave inappropriately and that no one at the company will be responsible for picking it up."
Several telematics companies have developed 'duty of care' modules to enable fleet managers and company directors to log core data to demonstrate their compliance. Cybit's, for example, allows them to monitor journey times, speed, the validity of drivers' licences, vehicle service history and driver qualifications.
Eagle-i has developed TERM, or Telematics Enabled Risk Management. The datachip in the black box records acceleration, deceleration and cornering up to 256 times per second. Operators can set acceptable standards of driver behaviour and generate exception reports. The data-logging function of TERM also has possibilities as an accident data recorder, Neill says. It could provide data on what the vehicle and driver were doing up to the point of impact.