Predicting the Unpredictable: Sabina Martin shares Technology’s Role in Improving Road Safety

Being on the road in an increasingly busy world brings many uncertainties, from distracted drivers to inclement weather and roadside hazards. In 2021, over half a million collisions occurred in the United States involving just commercial vehicles.

These risks continue to negatively impact fleets, drivers, and communities, and when we speak to fleet managers about improving safety, we typically hear three main trends: 

1. There’s a lack of visibility and control over driving violations, distracted driving and other risky behaviors
2. Information is siloed, restricting transparency and analysis across the organization, ultimately hindering responses to risks
3. There’s a great desire to proactively identify unsafe or risky behavior

Here’s the good news: technology has evolved at such a great pace in recent years that the combination of AI and data intelligence now has the power to address all three pain points, and the combination is already having a very positive impact on improving road and driver safety.

The art and science of prevention: AI-driven excellence 

The next generation of safety solutions is being driven by data intelligence, predictive collision insights and artificial intelligence (AI) right now, with Geotab at the forefront.

Given our deep understanding of challenges among an ever-evolving landscape, we created a dedicated command center to better manage fleet risks, track progress, help reduce accidents, and pinpoint unsafe driving behaviors. This proactive approach to safety leverages the power of AI and quality data to help companies predict and prevent risks by providing the visibility they need to make more informed decisions.

At the core of our approach lies AI-driven tools – a center of safety excellence within the MyGeotab platform. This innovation sets the stage for an evolution in fleet safety management, building on accelerometer and driver safety scores, advancing collision detection with predictive insights and AI, increasing precision and accuracy.  Addressing driver safety and performance, it evaluates three perspectives: 

1. Is this behavior safe?
2. Is this vehicle safe? 
3. Is this environment safe? 

We give fleet and safety managers a powerful ally so they can focus their time on coaching and making decisions based on quality data. 

And it’s having an impact. In 2022, Geotab’s data insights helped commercial vehicles drive 17% more miles on average before experiencing a collision. Collision insights from high-quality data are enabling our customers to ultimately create safer roads for everyone.

Actionable insights at your fingertips  

At Connect 2024, Geotab announced its Safety Center. Our Safety Center allows end users to: 

• Use Safety Center reports to gain control over risky driving behavior
• Gain insights into collision risks with predictive collision analytics
• Compare fleets with benchmarking reports 
• Discover how drivers compare to other drivers within the same fleet
• Gain greater accuracy of slow speed collisions with enhanced collision detection
• Leverage insights to create data-driven coaching programs, saving time and delivering impartial feedback
• Create organizational alignment using shared metrics from MyGeotab and Geotab Data Connector (GDC)

Looking Ahead

This shift from hindsight to foresight embodies Geotab’s commitment to easily, efficiently providing actionable intelligence. With advancements like the Geotab Safety Center powered by trusted technology, we're not just providing visibility into risks, we're helping companies to predict and prevent them. 

As we further leverage AI and data intelligence in 2024 – our safety solutions will continue playing a critical role in shaping the future of fleet management. To learn more about the latest in safety solutions, visit Geotab Safety Center.