How about that Super Bowl game Sunday? I’m not the biggest football fan past college football Saturdays and only when it comes to watching my alma mater. Roll tide!
But the Boeing 737 from Key West to Birmingham, Alabama, Sunday was filled with fans clapping every time the Eagles made yet another play toward winning the game they weren’t expected to win. Nearly every seat-back screen was tuned to Fox Sports, so even though my screen was filled with Bluey as I held my hands over my baby girl’s ears to drown out the cheers as she slept on my chest, I got a full viewing of the game myself.
If you catch me watching the Super Bowl, though, it’s for the commercials.
Fleet safety platform Samsara rolled out its debut commercial during Sunday’s game in four markets: Houston, Texas, San Francisco, California, and Little Rock and Fort Smith, Arkansas. While those markets were chosen based on where the company aims to reach current and prospective customers as well as talent, two (Texas and California) reach areas that Samsara recently ranked within its list of top 10 states with the highest number of distractions per 1,000 miles driven.
The 30-second ad showcased real-world dash camera footage in which many passenger cars were shown swerving and turning in front of or cutting off big trucks.
“On the field, big hits are a big deal, but on the road, they’re nothing to cheer about,” the ad states, closing with, “When it comes to keeping the roads safer for everyone, we don’t play games. Samsara: for the hits that don’t happen.”
Samsara’s AI technology uses trillions of data points to help fleet drivers reduce accidents.
I recently read a comment from a driver in CCJ’s What Drivers Want report that surveyed over 500 leased owner operators and company drivers. That driver stated that cameras don’t improve safety; they only help fleets exonerate themselves when accidents do occur.
But I have to disagree with that driver. You can take my opinion with a grain of salt considering I’m not a professional driver, though safety managers may back me up here.
From the time I’ve spent learning about this technology, fleets can use camera footage to educate and coach their drivers. That is an after-the-fact situation, but a lot of these dash cam vendors include real-time coaching, too, to help drivers make improvements in the moment.
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Nevertheless, helping a fleet exonerate itself is well worth the cost of the technology if you consider the litigious environment surrounding commercial carriers.
And though Samsara’s ad didn’t reach the entirety of the projected 126 million viewers of the Super Bowl, one point I hope came across to those who did see it is the need for education for passenger car drivers.
I’ve written about this before, but I’ll say it again: I believe the fault of most multiple-vehicle accidents involving big trucks lies with passenger car drivers.
Though they’re not perfect by any means, commercial fleet drivers are heavily trained. They’re professional drivers.
In its recent report, Samsara’s AI revealed where and when American drivers are most distracted, stating what we all know: a major source of distraction on the road is mobile phones.
With all the technology, including driver-facing cameras, in the cab of commercial trucks, in addition to their training and the fact that they could lose their livelihoods or lives in the event of an accident, professional drivers aren’t as likely as passenger car drivers to be the ones distracted by mobile phones.
Just as fleets train and coach their drivers, passenger car drivers need to be better informed about how to manage their vehicles around big trucks.
Samsara said in its news release that the commercial highlights the advancements in AI technology that have enabled a new era of safety, but it also aims to bring more appreciation to professional drivers and their heroic acts.
“Drivers often work long hours in challenging conditions to provide us with the goods and services we count on every day,” said Samsara Chief Marketing Officer Meagen Eisenberg. “Samsara is proud to partner with our customers to protect drivers and make the roads safer for everyone. We’re grateful for this opportunity to highlight the importance of road safety and the real challenges drivers face.”
Whether appreciation for professional drivers can help change the behavior of those behind the wheels of passenger cars remains to be seen, but the Super Bowl commercial is a step in that direction.
