DALLAS. Fleets using PeopleNet’s EOBR system now also have the opportunity to purchase discounted vehicle liability insurance thanks to a new collaboration between PeopleNet, Braznos Specialty Risk and SpeedGauge. The announcement was made at the annual ATA Management Conference and Exhibition, which opened yesterday afternoon in Grapevine, TX.
Customers with 15 or more power units that have EOBRs installed across their entire fleet and are subscribing to Speed Monitoring can apply for a discount of up to 10% on pay-per-mile insurance through Braznos. Monthly premiums are based on actual miles driven as reported by PeopleNet’s GPS system.
Although non-commercial vehicles owners have had access to similar insurance discounts if they agree to install speed monitoring devices, the cost-saving opportunity is new to the commercial sector. “We think this is perhaps the first time such a discount for commercial vehicles has actually been made available,” PeopleNet CEO Ron Konezny, told Fleet Owner.
Dwight Dowell, Braznos business development director, noted that, “We wanted to reward fleets that have taken steps to reduce their safety risk. Our statistics show significant safety-, maintenance- and fuel-related cost benefits for fleets equipped with EOBRs and speed monitoring capability: 70 to 80% reduction in accidents; 86% reduction in speeding; 89% reduction in aggressive driving; 4% improvement in fuel economy and 3 to 5% improvement in maintenance expense.”
“By offering this discount, Braznos recognizes that near real-time access to speeding events and other driver behaviors is key to minimizing safety risks,” said Jim Angel, PeopleNet’s head of safety, security and compliance. “The information is essential for making drivers aware of, and changing, behaviors that undermine safety.”
In conjunction with the new insurance discount opportunity, PeopleNet also chose ATA to unveil new alerts and daily summary enhancements to the Speed Monitoring function. Again, through its partnership with SpeedGauge, the company is offering the ability to send a near real-time e-mail when a driver triggers a speeding event, enabling fleet managers, driver managers and safety managers to know when and where a speeding event has just occurred.
According to PeopleNet, the alerts and reports are highly configurable in terms of establishing notification and reporting thresholds. “In addition to increasing management awareness, the daily summary keeps safety top of mind by letting drivers know how many events they trigger each day,” said Brian McLaughlin, PeopleNet COO. “This timely information is critical for promoting safe driving habits on a daily basis as speeding continues to be cited as the number-one CSA Unsafe Driver BASIC violation, according to the FMCSA.”
