REDUCING ACCIDENTS AND INCREASING PRODUCTIVITY WITH SURECAM
OVERVIEW
Established in 2005 specifically to provide road network management solutions to local government, Ringway Jacobs provides a “best in class” combination of engineering capability, innovation and customer care working on UK’s highways.
For the leading highway service provider that specializes in local government contracts, which include gritting the roads during the winter season, maintaining roads and structures, as well as filling up potholes, working on the nation’s roadways can be a dangerous line of business.
Dave Bonehill, head of the company’s fleet operations, is responsible for a fleet of some 250 trucks and 350 vans. He remembers what it was like before SureCam’s connected cameras.
“Our accident rate was a lot higher than it is, and our driver behavior was a lot worse than what it is,” Dave said.
SAFETY AND PERFORMANCE
SureCam dual-connected cameras have reduced accidents and increased productivity.
“At Ringway Jacobs we’re pros of our innovation and the things that we do relating to road safety and safety of our employees and public,” Dave said. “All of our vehicles are fitted with a full telematics system which gives data on both our drivers and our vehicles. This includes any safety alerts, whether that be harsh braking and harsh acceleration etc. and also good driving.”
The cameras, which have been fitted on 241 of their vehicles so far, now have reduced their accident rate and unsafe driving behavior by 54% in the last two years.
GETTING DRIVER BUY-IN THROUGH REAL-TIME SOLUTIONS
At first, the cameras weren’t accepted by drivers.
“It was only when we had a number of incidents that we had to prove our drivers were not at fault,” Dave said. “It was then that the cameras started to become respected and approved by drivers.”
For Ringway Jacobs, safety is paramount. The company performs regular checks throughout the week. A fleet dashboard is distributed to all employees monthly to highlight road initiatives and information about individual drivers’ performance.
Ringway Jacobs fitted their smaller fleet vehicles with forward and rear-facing cameras and opted for more complete coverage on their larger fleets.
“On the larger vehicles, we have four-way cameras which cover the sides,” he said. “The newer fleet, we’re having them fitted with 360 safety sensors all the way around so that if any vehicle, object or person comes into close proximity, the driver is alerted inside the cab with a picture on the screen that gives them a warning of where this object or person is.”
“We fully check every single incident,” Dave added. “Whether that be a cracked mirror from a branch through to full-scale accident.”
VIDEO EVIDENCE BOOSTS EMPLOYEE MORALE
Connected cameras have increased overall employee morale.
“It has reduced accidents, which has increased productivity in what drivers are doing,” Dave said. “The more accidents that we had in the past, the less time they had doing the necessary job of what was required. Having connected cameras has increased our productivity because it has reduced our accident rate.”
UK