Pennsylvania trucker Jeff Proper got burnt out as a long-hauler, so he transitioned over to a local linehaul fleet that carries waste and recycling material. His route still took him past weigh stations, which could eat up five or more hours a week. Last year, he discovered Drivewyze PreClear, a downloadable app that allows Proper to skip the weigh station wait and keep on moving to the landfill or recycling facility.
“It makes your life a lot easier,” said Proper, who has subscribed to PreClear ever since his initial 30-day trial ended. A subscription, available on iOS and Android smart devices and most electronic logging devices (ELDs), runs $17.99/month and it has allowed Proper to bypass the weigh stations an estimated “99% of the time.” Drivewyze officially states the app will let drivers skip 50 to 98% of the time, based on their carrier’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA) score.
It has also helped him become one of the top performers in Bousom Transfer’s fleet, which offers a bonus to its most productive drivers. “You get more loads, and you’re in before others,” said Proper, who gets paid per load.
Based on the additional amount of loads and bonus he accrues, Proper said he earns about 38% more per week.
PreClear, which has grown since 2012 to include 800 stations and temporary checkpoints across 45 states and two Canadian provinces, works by detecting an upcoming weigh station and alerts the driver when 2 miles away. The cloud-based algorithm runs a check based on state bypass criteria comprising safety scores and pull-in factor. If approved, the driver will know a mile out if they have to pull in or get to drive by.
A survey by Drivewyze found that drivers are three times more likely to work for a fleet that offers a weigh station bypass service and 65% were more likely to stay at that company, said Doug Johnson, Drivewyze vice president of marketing.
“That has a huge impact on driver retention and recruitment if you're a carrier,” Johnson said.
A driver on their own can save hundreds a month, as evidenced by Proper, though extrapolated to an entire fleet.
"When I took that time savings and plugged in our hourly rate, the potential savings I found that we could get with Drivewyze just blew me away," said Wayne Thornhill, fleet and safety compliance officer at Cumberland Farms, a chain of convenience stores and gas stations whose trucks travel 10 million miles a year. "At that point, it was a no-brainer for me to switch on the Drivewyze weigh station bypass service.”
According to a Drivewyze case study, Cumberland Farms eliminated 213 hours of weigh station time in one month and increased productivity by $33,000 per month. This allows them to buy two new trucks per year.
Johnson said the commercial motor vehicle safety officers who man the stations are some of PreClear’s staunchest advocates. They tell the regular drivers who they often just wave through to check out the app so the drivers don’t have to waste any time, according to Johnson, who added Drivewyze is a “very active member of the CVSA [Commercial Vehicle Safety Association].”
Most customers receive an average of 20 bypasses per month.
“It's a reward for safe behavior,” he concluded. “And it helps law enforcement agencies spend more time on looking at the trucks that need it. So it’s a win for the industry to keep trucks moving, save time and money, and a win for the enforcement agencies, to make sure that they're able to use their own limited resources the best way possible.”
