Transport Industry Determined to Tackle Road Safety

Transport Industry Determined to Tackle Road Safety With Technology

Auckland, New Zealand, 20 June 2018 – Transport professionals are responding seriously to the concerning leap in New Zealand’s road toll. The 2018 New Zealand Telematics Benchmark Report conducted by Teletrac Navman, a global leader in GPS tracking technology and services, found that safety technology took investment priority over other emerging technologies, as companies look to improve driver safety through alerting and fatigue monitoring technology.

As of the end of May 2018, the road toll in New Zealand reached 164 deaths, an increase of 10 deaths from the same time period last year1. Even though truck drivers have primary responsibility for only about a third (32 percent) of the fatal crashes in which they are involved2, the transport industry is taking action. The rise of fatal road crashes is a strong incentive for transport companies to develop more safety measures, particularly as some drivers are so fearful of crashes that they are leaving the industry3.

The Telematics Benchmark Report represents the responses of 250 New Zealand fleet operations and fleet management professionals in the transport, construction, manufacturing, retail, government and professional services industries. It was conducted as part of a global survey of 2,400 fleet operations and fleet management professionals.

Key New Zealand safety findings include:

The top two emerging technologies that organisations are considering for implementation in 2018 are driver warning and alerting technology (26 percent) and fatigue monitoring (18 per cent).
Driver warning and alerting technology, at 36 per cent, is the top choice of emerging technology that organisations expect to have the greatest impact on business operations in the future. It is followed closely by fatigue monitoring on 18 percent, big data analytics on 17 percent and artificial intelligence on 16 percent.
One in five respondents (21 per cent) cite improving driver safety as a top business goal.
Around one third of respondents (34 per cent) reported fewer accidents as a result of using telematics — an increase of 11 per cent from 2017.
Speed prevention is the top safety benefit realised by using telematics, cited by nearly half of respondents (46 per cent), followed by monitoring and benchmarking driver behaviour (29 per cent) and monitoring hours to prevent driver fatigue (24 percent).

“The report indicates that Kiwi organisations are placing an even larger focus on driver safety going into the future,” says Ian Daniel, Vice President and Managing Director Asia Pacific. “Technology is driving change in the fleet management area, from driver safety technology and cameras to EVs and autonomous vehicles. Pair technology innovations with changes in laws and regulations, and you will find that fleet managers are increasingly tasked with guiding major business decisions.”

Telematic technology tracks vehicles and assets for businesses to efficiently manage fleets and improve safety.

To download the full report, visit www.teletracnavman.co.nz/benchmark/general2018

Survey methodology

The 2018 New Zealand Telematics Benchmark Report is based on survey responses from 250 fleet operations and fleet management professionals based in New Zealand. Results may exceed 100 percent for questions with multiple possible responses. For reporting purposes, all statistical values have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

1New Zealand Transport Agency. (2018). Road death statistics.

2Ministry of Transport. (2017) Truck Crash Facts 2017.

3Guy. A. (2018, January 25). Truck drivers leaving the industry over fear of crashes, haulage company says. NZ Herald

ENDS

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