One-third of respondents report improved driver/operator behavior as a result of using telematics, according to Teletrac Navman's 2019 Benchmark Survey. One-third also report that the technology prevents speeding. The survey covers construction, oil and gas, and mining industries in the U.S., UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico.
Adoption of construction telematics has grown to 90 percent of respondents, up from 79 percent in 2018. Almost three-quarters of respondents say they use telematics to track equipment, but only 30 percent use it to monitor machine idling. Only 21 percent use telematics to track fuel usage. Both numbers are down from 2018; 39 percent used it for idling, 32 percent for fuel.
“Though we're glad to see so many organizations realizing significant safety benefits from telematics, it's dismaying to know their results could be even better in all operational areas if more of them took full advantage of telematics' cost-savings capabilities,” said Michael Bloom,
director of product management. "Using telematics to track metrics like idling and maintenance might seem insignificant on their own, but they add up to meaningful cost savings. In an industry with such thin margins to begin with, it's essential to take advantage of any opportunity to reduce expenses, and the customers we've seen who leverage telematics to its fullest report it can make a big difference to their bottom line.”
The survey also investigated use of data beyond equipment monitoring. One-quarter of respondents say they apply big-data analytics in order to guide strategic business decision-making, up from 9 percent in 2017.
Other technology trends presented in the report: 23 percent of respondents are considering adopting driver warning/alerting technology, and 2 percent plan to implement autonomous/self-driving vehicles.
Source: Teletrac Navman
