Even the most competent and experienced van driver may occasionally drive like a numbskull. Some van drivers alas behave like idiots every time they get behind the wheel, endangering themselves and other road users.

Vipul Palan, commercial director at TMS2, believes that his company has come up with a way of reminding both types of individual not to be foolish. The Driver Feedback module is an in-cab green/amber/red traffic-light-type device that shows a red light when the driver is doing something that’s at best ill-advised and at worst downright dangerous. That could be for example speeding, over-revving or excessively harsh braking. “Driver training is fine, but unfortunately drivers who have been on courses can revert to their previous bad practices over time,” contends Palan. “The in-cab unit reminds them not to.”

The unit can form part of a telematics system that allows managers to see how many times the red light has been illuminated as well as whereabouts the vehicle is. The device’s presence should help ensure that a firm’s employees drive more sensibly, he says, resulting in less accident damage, less wear and tear on components, lower fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions, and fewer speeding tickets.

The information produced by the system could be used to create a league table showing the best and worst performers, Palan suggests, with the former receiving an award. That way, poorer performing drivers may be encouraged to raise their game. The package costs £45 per van per month.

Even without an in-cab traffic light, drivers who know that a tracking system has been fitted to their van usually behave more prudently because they’re aware they’re being monitored. That isn’t the only benefit tracking brings, however, says Christian Payne, head of marketing at Minorplanet.

Productivity

For a kick-off, drivers are more productive. They’re less inclined to start late, finish early and extend their breaks excessively because they know that everything they are doing is being recorded. Because operators can see whereabouts each van is, they can direct the nearest one to a customer who needs an urgent visit. Maybe the driver is also a service and repair engineer, and a piece of vitally important equipment in a factory has suddenly ceased working.

“You have to get your costs under control, now more than ever, so that you don’t end up exceeding your overdraft limit,” says V-SOL managing director, David Isom. “You cannot afford to send somebody 80 miles to do a job when one of your other drivers was just round the corner and you didn’t know.”

If they’re being tracked then drivers are less likely to wander off route, wasting diesel. That’s one reason why Asda has opted to use Isotrak’s Active Transport Management System (ATMS) to control its fleet of 800 home delivery vans. Tighter control means more deliveries per shift and the ability to deliver within more tightly-defined time frames reckons the supermarket giant. That spells better customer service. As indicated earlier, it also means better behaviour at the wheel.

Remote Monitoring

Asda is using ATMS to provide remote monitoring of the chilled and frozen food compartments on its vehicles. This allows managers to anticipate fridge unit failure and take remedial action rather than end up having to dispose of an over-heated load. It also ensures that the doors to temperature controlled areas aren’t left open for too long.

Sensors are fitted to the load area’s doors, and to the cab’s passenger door, to boost security and detect unauthorised access. They’re fitted to the bonnet as well to ensure that drivers open it and conduct all the necessary daily checks prior to departure.

Security

Tracking packages spell improved security in other ways too says Payne. If a van is stolen or hi-jacked, then the owner can see where it’s gone, and notify the police. “Such monitoring helps employers fulfil their duty of care obligations to their employees,” he points out. Lone workers are always at risk of attack.

That’s a point not lost on Masternaut Three X. It’s come up with a wristwatch called LoKate that also works as a miniature mobile phone and GPS receiver with a panic button. If a worker feels threatened, then he can discreetly press the button in order to summon help via a control centre that’s in operation round-the-clock, seven days a week. The caller’s location can be pinpointed on Microsoft’s Virtual Earth map and the centre can then alert the emergency services or one of the threatened worker’s colleagues.

Still with security, geofencing can be used to alert a van’s owner if it is being driven out of a depot at 2.00am when it should be stationary. Odds are that it’s either being used illicitly by the authorised driver, or being pinched.

Other benefits that tracking can bring include the ability to dispute wrongly-issued parking tickets, to prove that vehicles are not being used privately — that should reduce the driver’s income tax liability — and to check on vans going in and out of the London congestion tax zone. If you know which of your mobiles has entered it you can pay the iniquitous tax being levied on you before you get an even more iniquitous fine.

Messaging

Tracking systems are frequently linked with a messaging service accessed via an in-cab unit that allows drivers and operators to communicate with each other. It may incorporate a selection of standardised messages that the driver can send — ‘customer out’, for instance — plus the ability to add some text giving a fuller explanation of what’s going on.

“Something else you can opt to do as part of our VMIgreenlight package is programme it with five phone numbers linked to buttons one through to five,” says Payne. If the driver hits number one, for instance, then he will always be put through to the office, while if he hits number two he will ring the phone number of his next drop point.

“That number will automatically change as he makes his deliveries during the course of the day and you can have either a soft on-screen dial-up or a hard button dial-up,” he says.

Programmed remotely, the system prevents the driver from calling any number he fancies and restricts incoming calls. Usually only the office will be able to contact him. An emergency button will be fitted that he can hit if he’s under attack.

Among the businesses that have signed up to VMIgreenlight is property maintenance specialist Gentoo Group. The Sunderland-based firm uses it to control all 345 of its vehicles. “By constantly monitoring usage we can instantly move underused vehicles to locations where they can be used more effectively,” says transport manager, Ian Bell. “This brings about a significant reduction in the number we have to purchase or lease and that in turn drives down the cost of fuel, servicing and other transport-related expenses.”