The recently published ‘2023 Easter Road Safety Statistics’ by the Department of Transport, has again shown the sad situation of the number of incidents on our roads. Road fatalities jumped a staggering 40% for this period, despite the issuing of 30 934 traffic fines. As indicated by the ‘Ctrack Transport and Freight Index’, additional strain was placed on our roads due to the state of rail in the country, leading to frustration as business and private road users need to share the space. The news has also been inundated with tragic events where driver behaviour has led to collisions and incidents that could have been avoided.

For any business in the transport industry be it a small delivery company or a multinational logistics company, the safekeeping of drivers and cargo remain the top priority. The key differentiator in the way that vehicles are used, and whether they are utilised safely, and efficiently can be directly contributed to the drivers. The management of drivers and assets is of critical importance and is best done by a bespoke fleet management system such as those offered by Ctrack.

Ctrack has a 35-year track record of fleet monitoring and management, and the use of technology is well-proven in terms of incident reduction and cost saving. Risk, cost control, fleet utilisation, operations control and asset control are integral to this ongoing research and development culture. Ctrack believes in complete life cycle asset management by harvesting data that can provide hindsight, insight and foresight.

“Prevention is better than cure, and Ctrack has the tools to ensure tragedy avoidance thanks to innovative technology. Ctrack’s well-developed fleet management systems have the ability to control the how, when and where and the functionality to establish the possible cause by studying the driver behaviour data,” says Hein Jordt, Chief Executive Officer of Ctrack Africa.

There are certain locations where specific types of vehicles carrying certain kinds of goods should not go. With no-go areas and route guidance, fleet managers can prevent vehicles from going into certain areas or, even more specifically, from using specific categories of roads. Vehicles can, for example, be limited to highways only. Safety risks can be enforced, by using warning buzzers, limiting speed or setting of alerts when drivers are deviating from routes. Load protection is possible thanks to precise location monitoring in and around depots where vehicles load and offload their cargo.

Customisable alerts of varying levels of importance can be configured, and real-time monitoring ensures that fleet managers are immediately notified of critical alerts and can act accordingly and assist drivers should they find themselves in a situation that falls outside of defined parameters.

Driver training is key to ensuring safe operation of vehicles and goods, and Ctrack has a wide variety of hardware and camera solutions to monitor how vehicles are used. This ensures accurate driver coaching and addressing of the common driver shortcomings. In the event of an incident, it is easy to determine exactly what happened and how similar incidents can be prevented in future.

Ensuring that only correctly trained drivers with valid licensing for that class of vehicle are behind the wheel can be managed by RF ID tags or access cards. This system ensures that fleet managers know exactly who is driving which vehicle and when and compiles a digital record of all operations. Most importantly, it ensures that only licensed drivers are operating the class of vehicles for which they are licensed.

While Ctrack offers several software solutions, including their recently refined Crystal platform that allows owners or fleet managers to look after their own fleet management, the Ctrack Bureau Service allows customers to pair Ctrack’s world-class tracking technology with an expert fleet manager at a minimal cost.

“The use of Ctrack’s fleet management systems has been proven to ensure control of all vehicle costs, and productivity, as well as improving the way in which vehicles are used and creating a culture of good driver behaviour. This ensures compliance, increases productivity and reduces accidents, as drivers play a key role in ensuring safety on our roads,” says Jordt.