Drivewyze has launched its new Drivewyze Safety Notifications service, which provides alerts when a Drivewyze-enabled truck approaches a high-rollover area and alerts drivers to upcoming low bridges.
The service is currently being offered for free to subscribers of the Drivewyze PreClear weigh station bypass service. An audible tone, as well as visual alert, provides the warning.
The new service, which is now active nationwide, is being rolled out this month throughout the Drivewyze ELD reseller partner network.
The rollover alerts were tested extensively in a pilot program with several large Drivewyze customers, the company says.
“What we found was that when the alerts were used, there was a measurable slow down in the risk area, and a 17% reduction in speeding incidents around those same curves,” Brian Heath, president and chief executive officer of Drivewyze, said. “That’s exactly what we wanted to see – the alerts had an impact on driver behavior. There is really no room for error with big rigs cornering on overpasses, especially in bad weather. Our internal studies have shown that ‘over speeders’—going 5 MPH over the posted speed limit around curves—are twice as likely to be in a preventable road accident as a driver going the speed limit. Once our customers activate the safety notification product on Drivewyze, its drivers will receive a ‘heads up’ about a 1,000 ft. before the corner, to get them zeroed in on what’s coming up.”
For the low bridge warnings, Heath said Drivewyze identified 1,500 strike-prone bridges along routes that are commonly used by truckers, and geo-fenced them for alerts. “The latest data (2014) from the Department of Transportation showed more than 4,200 bridge strikes in that year alone,” said Heath. “And those are not only totally preventable and embarrassing, they can be expensive. Repairs to trailers average around $10,000—not including cargo damage—and the owner of the vehicle is on the hook for any bridge repair, which can be well over $100,000, plus penalties/fines up to $11,000 by the DOT.”
Both the Drivewyze PreClear weigh station bypass application and the Drivewyze Safety Notifications service are available this month on several Drivewyze partner platforms, including ISAAC Systems, Omnitracs, Orbcomm, Platform Science, Switchboard, Transflo and Trimble.
