Editor’s note: This is the second of two articles on the topic of accident prevention. This installment addresses technology and tools for managing driver safety. The first installment in September mostly addressed the use of data to determine causes and contributing factors of accidents.

Drivers want to be green,” says John Kubala, director of safety and human resources at LeFleur Transportation, where green is the new color for safety. “We’re always asking (drivers) and making comments like, ‘Are you green today?’ ”

Based in Ridgeland, Miss., LeFleur provides scheduled passenger transportation services with a fleet of 300 vehicles. In each vehicle, a small device uses green, yellow and red lights to provide drivers constant feedback on their skill level. The device also sends information to the GreenRoad Safety Center, an online application from GreenRoad Technologies designed to simplify the process of assessing each driver’s skills and risk.

The Safety Center assigns values for five skill categories: acceleration, braking, lane changing, cornering and speed handling. Drivers that score in the yellow or red zone for each category are targeted for coaching and training. After testing the GreenRoad system on 50 vehicles for the past four months, 75 percent of LeFleur’s drivers showed improvement; 90 percent now are green, and the remainder is yellow.

Few fleets lack information on driver performance and safety; in fact, many fleet managers are overwhelmed with it. To use this information more efficiently and effectively to prevent accidents, some fleets are using technology to change the ways they manage driver safety.

Narrowing the focus
Today’s onboard computers and wireless communications systems can provide virtually anything you want to know about the operation of your trucks and drivers. So the real challenge is not getting information; it’s what to do with all of it.

“My experience is that people can get overwhelmed with the data,” says Jim Cundey, vice president of projects for Kenan Advantage Group. “They will throw up their hands and say, ‘We don’t know what we should be looking at.’ ”