As adding GPS tracking to landscape fleets becomes more commonplace, an additional piece of hardware that is rising in popularity are dashcams.
These cameras can have road-facing and/or in-cab lenses to capture what your crews are encountering as they drive between job sites.
Seth Kehne, president of Lawn Butler, based in Knoxville, Tennessee, says they started putting cameras in their trucks about two years ago. With a fleet of about 60 trucks, Kehne decided to add the dashcams after they had two minor accidents where their employees said the events of the accident were different from what the other party claimed.
“Just being a larger company, we’re just being more and more focused on liability and exposure is why we did it,” Kehne says. “The cameras also have some AI in them that helps you drive and protect against distracted driving.”
Lawn Butler utilizes Surfsight cameras and MiFleet for their GPS tracking. Kehne says both their GPS system and cameras come from their cell phone provider, UScellular. Because they have a large package with their provider they were able to negotiate a hardware discount.
The main benefits of adding the cameras to their fleet include liability protection and changing driver habits.
Since implementing the dashcams, Kehne says they have had several instances where they proved useful. In one case, an employee was driving up an on-ramp to the interstate when the vehicle slid out of control.
“We went back and looked at it,” Kehne says. “Our driver was driving correctly, not texting or driving, not distracted or anything. He just happened to go a little too fast, even though he was going the same speed as the car in front of him. So that helped us know that it was a mistake that wasn’t from negligence.”
He says another time is when a crew hit a customer’s mirrors and the cops came. The employee mentioned the dashcam in the truck, and the customer changed their story without even needing to review the recording.
The dashcams have also been used to prove a crew visited a site.
“There have been a couple times where we’ve shown a client that we were there with a video in there,” Kehne says.
He says while having the cameras haven’t directly impacted their insurance rates, they will share the fact they use them along with their fleet safety program when seeking quotes.
“I think it makes us more desirable for the insurance companies when they are quoting,” Kehne says.
Kehne says the cameras are effective at impacting driving behaviors.
“One of the best things about it is that it knows when you’re distracted driving,” Kehne says. “So if you have your phone in your hand, or you’re just kind of not paying attention, or you’re eating, it’ll beep at you, which is a really annoying beep, but the camera beeps at you. Then, if you keep doing it, we’ll send a video to your supervisor.”
Kehne says that he has this on his truck as well, and he would get notifications when he was exhibiting distracted driving behaviors. Now it has completely changed his driving habits.
The only drawback Kehne has experienced with the cameras is initial concern from some of their management team, who felt it was an invasion of privacy, so they chose to get cameras without any sound so conversations in the truck cab aren’t recorded.
“The bigger you get, and the more protected you are for liability, the more you can have that ‘Big Brother’ feel, so we’re always kind of sensitive about that,” Kehne says.
Kehne says there was actually way less pushback than he expected.
“I thought it was going to be a lot bigger deal,” Kehne says. “We didn’t have anybody quit over it.”
He says adding the cameras is definitely worth the investment and encourages opting for the road-facing and in-cab-facing dashcams.
“It’s hard to have a tangible, measurable amount because you don’t know how many wrecks you could have gotten in,” Kehne says. “I think overall it has helped improve our driving safety and protect from liability.”
The post How I Do It: Increasing Fleet Safety with AI-Powered Dashcams appeared first on The Edge from the National Association of Landscape Professionals.