Technology can make a competitive difference.

A panel of fleet executives discussed their experiences with FleetRisk Advisors’ predictive modeling platform to mine existing data in their enterprises to improve safety and communication with drivers. The FleetRisk platform considers thousands of historical and real-time data elements in an enterprise to detect behavioral changes in drivers that result from stresses in their personal or work environment.

One driver showed up in C.R. England’s FleetRisk model with several counts of risky behaviors. Following protocol, a fleet manager spoke to the driver. The manager discovered the driver’s son had been in a significant accident and that the driver had not taken time off the road to deal with the problem.

“As a company, we probably avoided a significant safety risk,” said Thom Pronk, corporate vice president of recruiting, training and safety for C.R. England. “But this is also a human being who had major challenges. We were able to help in a bigger way than just getting him home to take care of issues.”

The reward for implementing the FleetRisk platform is being able to take a proactive approach to managing risk, Pronk said. “People are very important to us,” he said. “We say all accidents are preventable. It doesn’t matter who is at fault. We want to prevent them all.”

Panelist Doug Schrier, director of continuous improvement for Covenant Transport, described the FleetRisk platform as the company’s “crystal ball.” The Chattanooga, Tenn.-based company has been using the technology for nearly two months. “We know which drivers are risky, and we are going to start managing them,” Schrier said. “This is going to be a great venture for the company.”

Election-year inaction: New regulations are unlikely to go into effect before November.

‘Broken’ program: FMCSA’s CSA initiative doesn’t measure safety, a fleet executive said.

‘Crystal ball’: Several fleets praised FleetRisk Advisors’ predictive modeling platform.

Aaron Huff is Senior Editor of Commercial Carrier Journal. E-mail ahuff@ccjmagazine.com or call (801) 754-4296.

ALK releases PC Miler 26

ALK Technologies, a provider of geologistics and navigation software, released the PC Miler 26 product line that includes new interactive map features, Fastest routing and RouteSync functionality for route compliance.

PC Miler 26 has an increased ability to interact with a RouteMap to visualize and customize routes. Options include satellite imagery and additional zoom levels to allow for more granular framing of the map window.