Local distribution fleets face a higher risk of collisions on Mondays and Tuesdays, as well as for the month of July, which corresponds to the heaviest periods of demand, according to analysis conducted by San Diego-based DriveCam Inc.
“We can assume that there may be more deliveries on Mondays and Tuesdays and more pressure to make deliveries as problems and shortages may have built up over the weekend – though we haven’t conducted a survey to specifically support this theory,” Del Lisk, DriveCam’s vp-safety services, told Fleet Owner.
“The expectation is that the higher volume of deliveries on these days is the number one factor, resulting in more stops, more of a sense of needing to rush as an intangible impacting the numbers,” he pointed out. “As our data becomes more developed and clearly establishes when there is more risk on a normalized basis – using a per mile driven or per hours of service metric – it’s likely that our clients will add this data as an important consideration in route planning and delivery schedules.”
DriveCam uses its database of over 18 million driving events captured by its in-cab Video Event Recorder (VER) from over two billion driving miles. The company specifically compared local distribution fleets to an aggregation of commercial vehicle applications, such as construction, energy, waste, telecommunications, long-haul trucking and bus transit operations.
The collision/near-collision rate for local distribution fleets peaks in July (12%), though that’s not significantly higher than other industries, which average 9% during that same month, DriveCam’s data indicated. However, collisions and near-collisions peak in the local distribution industry on Monday and Tuesday (20% both days), while Saturday and Sunday incidences are very low, just 4% and 2% respectively, compared to averages in other truck applications (10% and 5% respectively).
DriveCam also found collision/near-collision rates for local distribution fleets is higher than other industries between 6 p.m. and noon, peaking between 9 and 10 p.m. at just over 8%.
“We see this data as an opportunity to coach distribution drivers on good driving fundamentals, heightened awareness and eliminating distractions while driving during these ‘peak’ hours, days and months,” Josh Botnen, DriveCam’s data analytics manager, explained to Fleet Owner.
“It provides focus for coaching and training drivers in specific areas that are the riskiest,” he added. “For example, knowing that ‘following too close’ is a leading risky behavior, with Mondays and Tuesdays the leading days for collisions/near collisions, a safety manager could remind drivers about safe following distance policies before dispatching them.”
As an example of applying what’s being learned about collision patterns to delivery planning, look no further than United Parcel Service, stressed DriveCam’s Lisk. “Once UPS internal studies identified how much risk was associated with turning left across traffic, they redesigned their deliveries to avoid these,” he noted.
