#driver behavior

Driver behavior is the cornerstone of fleet safety and efficiency. Unsafe driving practices can have negative consequences, including increased operational costs, legal liabilities, damaged vehicles, and tarnished brand reputation. To counter these challenges, Teksun offers a Leading-edge safety system Telep  Forward Collision Warning to empower fleet managers with the insights needed to improve driver performance and overall fleet safety. 

Problems 

The staggering toll of road accidents—claiming approximately 1.35 million lives annually—highlights a global crisis. Despite stringent road safety regulations, human error remains a persistent challenge. The economic impact is equally alarming, with road accidents costing many countries around 3% of their GDP. 

Distracted driving has emerged as a leading cause of accidents. A recent national survey in the United States revealed that 52.5% of drivers admit to eating while driving, 23.6% text, and a concerning 10% of driving time is spent on mobile phones. 

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) systems have proven vital countermeasures. Studies by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) indicate that FCW systems can reduce front-to-rear collisions by 27%. 

Teksun has responded to this critical issue by developing Telep ADAS. This cutting-edge telematics video solution is designed to prevent collisions and accidents, offering a practical and effective approach to enhancing road safety for corporate fleets. 

Would you like to focus on a specific aspect of Telep ADAS or explore the technology's benefits in more detail? 

Solution 

To address the challenges mentioned above, we proudly present you with the brand-new, innovative Telep ADAS. It incorporates 20+ advanced AI models for enhanced automotive safety and efficiency. It offers various features, including Pedestrian Alert, Driver Drowsiness Detection, Driver Health Monitoring, Forward Collision Warning, and Headway Monitoring Warning.  

Today, we are talking about the Forward Collision Warning System. So, what is a Forward Collision Warning? 

Forward Collision Warning Solutions (FCW) is an advanced safety system that uses sensors and cameras to enhance safety. It continuously tracks the distance between vehicles and delivers real-time alerts if a potential collision is detected, notifying you through visual or auditory signals. This proactive warning offers critical seconds to respond and avert an accident. 

How does a Forward Collision Warning work? 

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) systems use sensors, cameras, and sometimes radar to monitor the road ahead. Here's how they generally work: 

Detection: The system continuously scans the area in front of the vehicle for obstacles, including other cars, pedestrians, and stationary objects. This is typically done using cameras and sensors mounted on the car. 

Distance Measurement: FCW systems measure the distance between your vehicle and the detected objects. They assess the speed at which your car and the obstacle move. 

Risk Assessment: The system evaluates the likelihood of a collision based on distance and relative speed. It triggers a warning if it determines that a collision may occur within a specific time frame. 

Alerts: When a potential collision is imminent, the FCW system provides the driver with alerts. These alerts can be visual (such as flashing lights on the dashboard) or auditory (like beeps or alarms), ensuring the driver is aware of the danger. 

Response Time: The early warnings give drivers valuable seconds to react—whether braking, steering away, or taking other evasive actions to prevent the collision. 

Overall, Forward Collision Warning systems are designed to enhance safety by providing timely alerts, helping to reduce the likelihood of accidents. 

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) systems can be categorized into several types based on technology, functionality, and integration with other safety features. Here are the main types of FCW systems: 

Basic FCW Systems: 

These systems primarily offer visual and auditory alerts to warn drivers of a potential collision. They use simple radar or camera systems to detect obstacles ahead and notify the driver when a crash is imminent. 

Radar-Based FCW Systems: 

Utilizing radar technology, these systems can accurately measure the distance and speed of vehicles in front. Radar-based FCW is effective in weather conditions, such as rain or fog, where camera systems may struggle. 

Camera-Based FCW Systems: 

These systems rely on cameras to monitor the road ahead. They analyze images to detect vehicles and obstacles. Camera-based systems may include advanced image recognition capabilities to identify different types of objects, including pedestrians. 

Lidar-Based FCW Systems: 

Some advanced FCW systems utilize Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) technology to create detailed 3D maps of the environment around the vehicle. This allows for precise obstacle detection and enhances collision prediction accuracy. 

Integrated ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems): 

Many modern FCW systems are integrated with other driver assistance technologies, such as Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), and Lane Keeping Assist. This integration allows for a more comprehensive approach to collision avoidance, enabling automatic braking if the driver does not respond to warnings. 

Adaptive FCW Systems: 

These systems adjust their sensitivity based on driving conditions and vehicle speed. For instance, they may provide more frequent alerts in heavy traffic and fewer alerts on open highways, reducing unnecessary distractions for the driver. 

Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) Communication Systems: 

Emerging technologies are incorporating V2V communication, allowing vehicles to share information about their speed, direction, and potential hazards. This collaborative approach enhances the effectiveness of FCW by providing additional data points for collision prediction. 

These various types of FCW systems highlight the advancements in automotive safety technology. They aim to improve driver awareness and prevent accidents through timely alerts and interventions. 

Advantages of Forward Collision Warning: 

Forward Collision Warning (FCW) systems offer several advantages and are crucial in enhancing vehicle safety. Here are some key benefits and their importance: 

Enhanced Safety: FCW systems help to prevent accidents by alerting drivers to potential collisions, giving them crucial time to react. This can significantly reduce the severity of accidents or avoid them altogether. 

Increased Awareness: The system acts as an additional set of eyes on the road. It continuously monitors traffic conditions and can detect vehicles or obstacles that a driver might miss, especially in complex driving environments. 

Reduced Driver Fatigue: FCW's constant monitoring and alerts can alleviate some of the stress associated with driving, particularly in heavy traffic or long trips. This can lead to a more relaxed driving experience. 

Lower Insurance Costs: Vehicles with advanced safety features like FCW may qualify for lower insurance premiums. Insurers often provide discounts for cars with enhanced safety technologies, recognizing their role in reducing accident rates. 

Improved Reaction Time: The early warnings provided by FCW systems enable drivers to respond more quickly to potential hazards, which can be critical in emergencies. 

Integration with Other Safety Systems: FCW is often part of a broader suite of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), such as Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB). This integration further enhances vehicle safety by enabling automatic responses to imminent collisions. 

Importance of Forward Collision Warning: 

Accident Prevention: The primary importance of FCW lies in its ability to prevent accidents. Statistics show that many collisions occur due to delayed human reaction times; FCW addresses this issue by providing timely alerts. 

Protection of Vulnerable Road Users: FCW systems protect the vehicle's occupants and help safeguard pedestrians and cyclists by alerting drivers to potential collisions with these vulnerable road users. 

Promoting Safe Driving Habits: FCW promotes safer driving behaviors over time by encouraging drivers to remain vigilant and responsive to road conditions. 

Supporting Autonomous Driving Technologies: As vehicles evolve towards greater automation, FCW plays a foundational role in developing fully autonomous systems. It helps create a safer environment for both human drivers and automated vehicles. 

In summary, Forward Collision Warning systems are vital components of modern vehicle safety technology, offering numerous advantages that contribute to accident prevention and overall road safety. 

 Summing up 

Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) Save Driver week takes place annually across North America July 10-16. It’s a safe driving awareness and outreach initiative aimed at improving the driving behaviours of passenger vehicle drivers and commercial motor vehicle drivers through educational and traffic enforcement. During the week, law enforcement officers will be looking for drivers who show signs of risky driving such as speeding, improper lane change, distraction and tailgating. According to Global Fleet Champions, driver error accounts for 90–95 percent of collisions.

By implementing a driver safety program in their fleets, businesses can find opportunities to save significantly on fuel, collision costs, and even lives. Programs for driver safety can support an organization’s overall fleet safety program and improve driver productivity and personal safety. A good way to concentrate on a particular aspect of the driver safety program is to incorporate a speed reduction campaign, which is the focus of this year’s Safe Driver Week.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SPEEDING

Contrary to popular belief, speeding is not a faster or more effective way to get from one place to another. Additionally, speeding is prohibited, and the fines associated with it are very costly for both drivers and their employers. There is no need to speed for the sake of everyone’s safety. The best objective is to arrive at your destination without breaking any laws or getting into an accident.

EXPENSES ASSOCIATED WITH SPEEDING

You should be aware of the costs of speeding and aggressive driving before you or your drivers get behind the wheel, including:

Demerit points, fines and citations

License revocation

Collisions that could cause vehicle damage, personal injury, or even death

Increased rates of fuel consumption

HOW FLEETS CAN STOP SPEEDING

Companies can lessen fleet speeding and aggressive driving by launching a workplace safety campaign. Telematics is a great addition to any fleet safety program because it gives coaches unbiased information about driver performance. It is possible to establish rules, take a baseline of speeding activity, and then monitor goal progress using a telematics platform.

USING DRIVER SCORECARDS FOR DRIVER SAFETY PROGRAMS

By implementing a driver safety program in their business, employers can find opportunities to save significantly on fuel, collision costs, and even lives. Programs for driver safety can support an organization’s overall fleet safety program and improve driver productivity and safety.

Driver scorecards are a good tool to help with productivity, safety, optimization and compliance. It uses GPS tracking/telematics to report on key fleet metrics such as:

Productivity (late starts, customer time vs. driving time)

Safety (speeding, acceleration, harsh breaking, hard cornering, seat belt use, backing up when leaving)

Fleet optimization (engine light on, engine abuse, fuel consumption, after hours work trip)

Compliance (HOS driving violations)

In many businesses, fleet expenses account for a sizable portion of the overall operating budget. A driver safety program offers a new way to cut costs and benefits everyone.

USING TELEMATICS

Fleet managers can see who has been speeding and how frequently with a telematics-based speeding report. For instance, Top 5 Speeding Violations report lists the top five drivers by the number of speeding incidents per day, week, or month. This report can assist in determining which drivers in the fleet have the riskiest driving practices and whether the fleet manager wants to improve overall fleet safety because of complaints about speeding drivers.

Vehicle tracking devices assist in gathering information that is later used to identify risky driving. In addition to vehicle road speed, fleet managers should pay attention to vehicle acceleration, and vehicle engine speed. These data points can help improve driving behaviors by generating safety dashboard reports, custom safety alerts, advanced collision systems, trip history and rules setting.

You can keep track of speeding, harsh braking, and sharp turns while monitoring fleet safety in real-time. You can effectively coach the drivers in real-time and discourage distracted driving with the aid of all this information. Give prompt feedback to boost performance.

A telematics system can constantly scan the road and alerts the driver to potential collisions, unintentional lane changes, tailgating, and risks for pedestrians and cyclists.

The Connected Vehicles Fleet management solution is built on a strong foundation of fleet safety. With in-vehicle driver coaching, instant collision notification, and risk and safety reporting, telematics can support a company’s safety program and distracted driving policy.

HOW TO SET A SUCCESSFUL SPEED REDUCTION CAMPAIGN

Set a target. In this case, reducing or eliminating driver speeding violations (as defined in your Driver Safety Policy) would be the main objective

Choose a campaign coordinator and an internal sponsor

Create it. Include a compliance and communication strategy

Promote your initiative

Evaluate

Create a group of supporters for the initiative. Include staff members on the campaign committee. Plan activities and communications to promote the campaign while distributing safety best practices. Fact-filled and visually appealing posters can be very powerful. To maintain interest and enthusiasm throughout the campaign, you’ll want to communicate frequently.

CONCLUSION-

One of the most common causes of accidents and fatal traffic-related incidents is speeding. Additionally, speeding raises the cost of fuel. It’s important for employers to focus on driver speeding since safe roads are a shared responsibility.  Together we can help make the roads safer for everyone.

Explore Connected Vehicles’ fleet safety solutions for more information.

The driver is the pilot of the vehicle. Whether the distance is short or long the way the driver drives the vehicles can make a difference of life and death for the people around, the driver himself and even the business. Driver behavior monitoring can help in many ways:

. Ensuring the safety of the vehicles

. Increasing the efficiency of the fleet

. Prolonged vehicle life

. Less accidents and repair expenses

. Planning future fleets and traffic management

. Road planning

AIS 140 have incorporated the monitoring of drivers behavior in the system as a must because of the above mentioned reasons. While the system cannot monitor what is going in the mind of the driver itself but with the modern age communication devices such as cloud and wireless monitoring other physical aspects of driving can be monitored and analyzed to comprehend and suggest the best driver behavior.

Automotive Industry Standard 140 (AIS 140 standard) for drivers performance monitoring clearly states that every vehicle should have drivers scorecard and reporting under the operations management guidelines for both intra city and intercity vehicles. Under the safety regulations it also mandates that there will be no display systems and as such in the driver's or the attendant's cabin and view area which can distract the drivers in all vehicles. These points include :

a) Speed violation

b) Driver duty performance

c) Driver wise improper stopping

d) Details of missed trip

e) Distance travelled by the vehicle

f) Average speed

g) Accident analysis

The drivers are not only responsible for just driving the vehicle from one place to another it also includes taking full responsibility for the vehicle. AIS 140 standard incorporates frameworks to screen the vehicle wellbeing on the web which can support the driver take immediate and corrective measures which reduce the off route time for the vehicle.

The driver behavior modeling has three main aspects: sensing, application and future systems. There are three main categories of driver behavior :

Normal behavior: This is when the drivers behave normally and divers with the optimal condition. Follows all the traffic rules, keeps a control on the speed of the vehicle, drives in lanes and is alert at all times.

Drunken behavior: driving under the influence of intoxication of alcohol and drugs can be identified with a set of characteristic behavior such as sudden acceleration, no lane driving, no control on speed, closed eyes for about 80% of time and slow reflexes.

Fatigue Behavior: Long working hours and other pressures can cause the driver to fatigue. This can lead to loss in effective driving. A fatigued driver has the same habits as that of a drunk driver but there is not alcohol in driver blood but just lack of sleep and rest.

The main aim of AIS 140 standards including driver behavior in its system is to ensure that the roads are safe for everyone at all times using intelligent transportation systems. Having a set model of driver conduct examination under AIS 140 principles will empower the country to predict and recognize driver preferences to provide better adaptive assistance.

ERM Telematics provides eSafe Black Box Tracking solution for monitoring the Driver Behavior, his driving quality and safety. It is a sophisticated and easily installable device. This eSafe StarLink Tracker, in parallel with transmitting alerts to the server, also alerts the driver himself using an in-vehicle LED and buzzer alerts.