Road deaths in collisions involving light goods vehicles, heavy goods vehicles, buses, and coaches increased between 2021 and 2022, and in 2023, there were an estimated 132,977 road casualties in the UK.
Enhancing safety and security on the road should be a priority for fleet managers, not only to prevent damage to vehicles and injury or worse to drivers and other road users but also to reduce the number and nature of insurance claims. With a range of powerful features aimed at improving road safety and increasing driver accountability, Crystal Ball’s 4G fleet dash cam can help you achieve this.
Improve Driver Behaviour and Monitor Safety
Driver error accounts for an average of 67.26% of collisions in the UK every year. Regionally, London has the highest percentage of driver error collisions, averaging 74.24%. Drivers failing to look correctly contributed to 37.81% of all collisions, while behaviour or experience was reported in 23.61% of collisions. At 21.86%, injudicious action ranked fourth as a cause, while failing to judge another person’s path or speed accounted for 20.06% of all collisions.
With figures such as these, it’s clear that improving driver accountability and compliance with the rules of the road is a key aspect of accident prevention. Thanks to driver behaviour monitoring capabilities, our dash cam can act as an onboard driving coach and provide you with behavioural insights to help you monitor safety, address poor driving behaviour, and acknowledge commendable drivers.
Driver Behaviour Monitoring
Our cabin-facing dash cam uses facial recognition technology to monitor drivers for behaviours including:
- Distracted driving (eyes looking to the right or left for too long)
- Driver not at the wheel when the vehicle is in motion
- Eyes closing for a long time
- Falling asleep
- Head lowering down (sleeping)
- Smoking while driving
- Using a mobile phone while driving
- Yawning
Whenever the dash cam detects any of these behaviours, it audibly alerts the driver and sends video footage of the incident to the fleet manager. The audible alerts act as a driver training coach, alerting the driver to the behaviour. Knowing that the behaviour has been detected and fleet management alerted should be sufficient to encourage the driver to correct their behaviour or to stop for rest for greater security on the road.
As the fleet manager, you have an accurate report and footage of the incident. This enables you to reinforce driver accountability by addressing problem areas with the relevant people, which should lead to real change. A University of Nottingham study found that using dash cams to monitor and educate drivers about the risks and consequences of bad driving behaviours reduced driver errors significantly, with traffic incidents such as over-speeding falling by 34%, harsh cornering by 31%, and harsh braking by 16%.
Protect Against Fraudulent Insurance Claims
Fraudulent motor insurance claims are on the rise in the UK. In 2023, insurance providers detected 45,800 motor scams worth £501 million, which was 8% more than in 2022. These accounted for 54% of all fraudulent insurance claims last year.
While some of these fraudulent claims may have been submitted due to opportunism, others may have been crash-for-cash schemes in which drivers deliberately cause a collision in the hope of claiming a large insurance payout. While your fleet is not immune to either, Crystal Ball’s dash cams can go beyond encouraging road safety to help protect you against fraudulent insurance claims.
In addition to acting as a deterrent to would-be fraudsters, our dash cam records footage of the road in front of the vehicle continuously (installing more than one camera enables you to record footage of the road and the environment around the vehicle). Thanks to advanced GPS, G-sensor, and other technology, the dash cam also records the location, time, speed, and direction of travel.
You can access this footage via the dash cam software dashboard for an accurate replay of events leading up to, during, and after a collision. This data can help investigators and insurance claim assessors determine who was at fault swiftly, expediting the claim process and ensuring a fairer outcome.
Insurance Discounts for Dash Cams
Recognising the value of accurate, unbiased dash cam footage for police investigations, court proceedings, and claim processing, many of the UK’s top insurance providers offer insurance discounts to customers who install dash cams in their vehicles. Dash cams act as a deterrent to vehicle theft and breaking into vehicles. They also act as onboard driving coaches, which have been proven to improve driver behaviour and security on the road. This means insurance providers face fewer claims to process and payouts to make.
Some providers offer discounts of between five and 20% on customers’ monthly insurance premiums to encourage more drivers and fleet owner-operators to install this powerful technology in their vehicles. Qualifying for one of these discounts can help reduce monthly expenses and lead to substantial cost savings over time.
Improve Security on the Road with Dash Cams
Offering an accurate account of journeys and traffic incidents, driver behaviour monitoring, real-time alerts, and data integrity, Crystal Ball’s dash cams can make a real difference to your fleet by encouraging better security on the road. Installing our dash cams can bring peace of mind while also enhancing your business’ operational efficiency.
Contact us to learn more about what our dash cams can do for your fleet.