Smart 4G dash cams offer many key benefits when it comes to optimising the efficiency of your fleet. They are also invaluable for supporting exceptionally efficient route planning in every part of the UK and for navigating schedule shifts around daylight saving time (DST).
Cloud-based dash cams provide instant access to stored route footage and traffic data via smartphones and computers and are compatible with a wide range of fleet vehicles, from vans and trucks to cars and HGVs.
Advanced dash cam devices also offer integrated features like accurate real-time GPS and DST tracking, clock adjustment, driver identification, driver behaviour monitoring, and vehicle defect reporting to streamline your car fleet’s daily operations, clocks forward or not.
In this article, we will explore the key benefits of using 4G dash cams like Crystal Ball’s award-winning SmartCam to give you full control over your course planning strategies.
We will delve into these dash cams’ abilities to efficiently analyse real-time traffic data, produce optimal map routes for drivers, and adjust clock times and plans within seconds to ensure prompt delivery of your business shipments.
Real-Time Traffic Monitoring
Many smart 4G dash cams like the SmartCam are fitted with real-time daylight traffic monitoring abilities and zoom features to optimise route planning. This means that a dash cam can monitor the traffic surrounding each vehicle in a fleet at all times, giving fleet managers a clear view of traffic congestion and incidents on different map routes.
Traffic can be a considerable factor in the timely delivery of shipments, and if a driver encounters unforeseen congestion, their deliveries could be delayed by hours or longer.
Traffic delays can also increase car fuel expenses, leading to higher operational costs and more wear and tear on vehicles as well.
Fleets that use DST 4G dash cam devices to analyse traffic data can easily identify potential delays, traffic congestion, and other obstacles on the map. Business managers can adjust their drivers’ delivery routes accordingly to minimise the risk of delays and time and energy wastage.
Fuel Efficiency
Fuel and energy costs are significant in any fleet’s ultimate profit margins. The more fuel required to make deliveries, the slimmer a fleet’s per-hour profits will be. 4G dash cam devices can help with energy efficiency.
By identifying traffic congestion and other factors that can cause road delays, these dash cams can assist fleet managers in accessing more energy-efficient routes for their fleets, reducing the number of hours on the clock, and speeding up delivery times.
The shorter and more efficient these routes, the less fuel drivers will need to reach their destinations and make deliveries on time or ahead of schedule.
Not only does this translate to lower fuel expenses per hour, but it may also produce more environmentally friendly operations.
A business that optimises its route planning and takes the most hour-efficient routes possible can also lower its travel-associated carbon emissions, helping to maintain compliance with increasingly strict European Union regulations.
Historical Data Collection
Smart 4G dash cams like Crystal Ball’s SmartCam provide access to historical data on the routes that their drivers frequently use for deliveries.
Historical information can include data about average travel times between specific routes, past traffic history and incidents, the impact of specific times of day, and whether or not drivers have encountered significant delays on certain routes in the past.
Business fleet managers who have access to this dash cam data can identify and control potential bottlenecks ahead in key routes, as well as areas in which routes can be further optimised to maximise the efficiency of their operations. They can also successfully keep their deliveries ahead of schedule by finding new, more efficient routes.
More efficient operations mean more satisfied clients, more timely deliveries, and more capacity to take on new clients and meet increased demand by hour in the future.
Driver Behaviour Monitoring
The habits and behaviours of a business fleet’s drivers play a critical role in the efficiency of deliveries and time savings. SmartCam dash cam offers intelligent tools and dash cam zoom that monitor drivers’ behaviour on location, including habits like acceleration, route deviation, or harsh braking.
This data, in turn, can be used to identify where drivers may be encountering obstacles on the road or taking routes that should be optimised to streamline their deliveries.
Managers can also use this data to provide driver training on better driving practices, helping to improve the overall efficiency of their city routes and the safety of their teams.
Additionally, SmartCam offers the ability to evaluate drivers’ performances thanks to its integrated dash cams and driver behaviour analysis modules. Our dash cams come complete with optional, full HD, driver-facing dashboard cameras to collect extensive and actionable driver behaviour data.
SmartCam empowers drivers with self-improvement tools through the integrated Driver App, helping them avoid high-risk driving behaviours and navigate the roads ahead safely.
Managers can even foster a culture of safe driving by using SmartCam’s driver data to recognise and reward top-performing team members.
Driver Performance and Scoring
One of the best ways to foster a safe and efficient driving culture in your organisation is to reward your drivers for ideal driving behaviour. SmartCam’s driver performance and scoring modules enable fleet managers to do exactly this while reducing costs.
Our smart 4G dash cams can enhance driver behaviour and reduce overall fleet expenses by improving fuel efficiency and reducing vehicle wear and tear.
Our integrated dash cam vehicle checklists also encourage regular maintenance, reducing the risk of breakdown and associated delivery hour delays.
Driver Training and Incentives
Thanks to our unique driving score system, drivers can access the Driver App to monitor their driving performance. This system identifies the key performance indicators that each individual driver should focus on to optimise their performance on the road.
Crystal Ball’s integrated dash cam services also automatically recognise positive driver performance, providing encouragement to motivate your top-performing drivers to continue on their current trajectories and control your service efficiency.
Driver Route Verification
Course deviations and delivery disputes can cause significant challenges for any fleet operation.
SmartCam can assist by providing access to detailed dash cam footage for cars. This footage can be used to verify the routes taken by each driver per hour and provide solid location evidence when required.
These verification features can help ensure that sales team members provide more accurate per-hour services billing to clients. They may also enhance the process of course planning based on real-world situations and past scenarios.
Vehicle Safety
Route location planning is absolutely essential for smooth fleet operations, but without roadworthy vehicles, even the best plans can result in unwanted incidents.
Vehicle malfunctions and breakdowns can lead to potentially costly daylight hour delays, even when a route and its fuel requirements have been meticulously planned.
SmartCam’s AI-powered digital vehicle form checklists make it easy to ensure that your car or fleet is roadworthy and your services comply with strict safety-dependent standards and federal law.
Our integrated analysis checklists allow all vehicle defects to be reported and repaired as soon as possible, making for highly efficient vehicle operation and minimising the risk of breakdown incidents.
Regular Roadworthiness Checks
Our services and tools enable drivers to easily complete their vehicle checks from their smartphones daily, weekly, or monthly as needed.
The Driver App download allows drivers to instantly photograph vehicle defects and upload these images with their completed form checklists to the cloud in real-time. The app download can be fully integrated with our car, truck, van, lorry, and HGV dash cam devices and will store the past three submitted analysis checklists for download on the driver’s smart device.
This makes past vehicle records easy to access and download when drivers need to provide evidence of roadworthiness. Additionally, our vehicle checklists can be fully customised to your own individual vehicle tracking demand to control flawless course planning and fulfilment.
Daylight Saving Time (DST) Assistance
The European Parliament in London planned to cease DST in 2021, but this plan has been delayed due to Brexit and bureaucratic challenges in London and beyond. SmartCam’s built-in GPS-powered modules can benefit drivers by assisting them in navigating DST shifts from standard time to daylight saving time.
When many countries move their clocks forward and become hours ahead of others due to daylight saving time, drivers and fleet managers often fail to account for this clock change through manual adjustment. This unaccounted difference between clocks leaves the potential for shipment delays and hours of discrepancy.
4G dash cams with GPS functionality automatically download accurate time hours via GPS satellites and maps, ensuring that drivers’ dash cam clocks track and automatically adjust for daylight DST hour time changes. This eliminates the need for manual DST adjustment and makes saving time simpler for large-scale fleets.
Accurate time stamps on dash cam footage are also essential for event reviews. When the clocks move forward, these time stamps may become inaccurate if not updated to the hour. GPS is always synced with atomic clocks, allowing SmartCam to keep up with time changes.
The Bottom Line
Smart 4G dash cams like Crystal Ball’s SmartCam are a vital aid for structured and efficient course planning.
Our integrated SmartCam dash cams and Driver App download can analyse instantly uploaded real-time traffic data, suggest optimal delivery routes and comparisons, and streamline car and vehicle safety checks and driver behaviour monitoring.
The results are reduced fuel consumption and operating expenses, more sales team efficiency, time savings, and more satisfied client demand, even with the clock forward.
Crystal Ball’s dash cam technologies and services cover businesses of all sizes and scopes. Talk to our team to find out more about how we can help you optimise route planning, save money, and increase efficiency.