Groendyke Transport, which runs one of the largest tanker fleets in North America, recently deployed the video-based safety system from SmartDrive across its entire fleet.
SmartDrive, specializing in video-based safety and transportation intelligence, said Groendyke is installing SmartDrive 360 and SmartIQ in an effort to broaden its current safety program, and help its drivers become more aware and safer on the road.
“We couldn’t ask for a better partner or better results,” said Aaron Harmon, senior vice president at Groendyke. “From the first time we met SmartDrive, it’s been a great experience in terms of product and support. When we tested other companies’ products, we knew they would be challenging for our managers to use.
“SmartDrive’s dashboards, coaching program and overall platform are easy to use. It’s clear to see the system was built as a tool to help really good drivers become even better and safer at their profession, and not to simply reduce the number of events captured.”
Groendyke’s commitment to maintaining one of the best overall safety records in the country is reflected in its trophy case, which includes an industry-record eight National Tank Truck Carriers (NTTC) North American Safety Champion Awards, also known as the Heil Trophy. Groendyke, a top-10 tank truck carrier by revenue, last claimed the honor for its 2018 safety efforts, including an extremely low accident frequency—0.462 DOT accidents per million miles.
“The Heil Trophy is the Super Bowl of safety for the tank truck industry, and we want to win it every year,” said Greg Hodgen, president and CEO of Groendyke.
Despite its already exceptional safety record, Groendyke leadership turned to SmartDrive for further improvement. SmartDrive said Groendyke validated its decision during a pilot run of the program, which demonstrated its “future-focused technology, fully managed service, proactive coaching workflow and superior customer support.”
During the pilot, Groendyke achieved a 73.7% improvement in its safety score, an objective measurement of specific driving habits that increase risk and the likelihood of collisions. By proactively identifying risk and coaching against it, Groendyke is working toward eliminating these unsafe behaviors.
To maximize visibility to driving-related incidents and compliance violations, as well as pinpoint the next steps to improve fleet performance, Groendyke deployed SmartDrive 360 and SmartIQ across its fleet. SmartDrive 360 provides the option to add cameras to the sides and back of the vehicle, enabling a comprehensive view and delivering insight into the most frequent causes of collisions—such as u-turns, reversing, unintentional lane changes, rollovers and side swipes. Through this, SmartDrive says it’s able to deliver “an unprecedented level of coverage and visibility” into risk.
“We knew we wanted to be as safe as we could and recognized we needed more than just road-facing cameras; we needed the complete picture,” Harmon said. “Knowing what’s going on in and around our trucks is critical and is the only way we can truly coach drivers to be better. While we understand a majority of our drivers are stellar at their job, we realize that sometimes, even the best drivers can benefit from constructive feedback, improving their likelihood to avoid a collision. Our intent is continuous improvement in safety, proactively coaching and recognizing safe driving habits. SmartDrive is the next step to do this.”
SmartIQ’s video analytics platform transforms massive volumes of vehicle sensor data into insights that can be leveraged across fleet operations to help improve efficiency and overall financial performance. “We’ve always been early adopters of safety programs and tools,” Harmon said. “As a result, we built a driver risk profile, and that’s what we used to coach our drivers to help them improve. SmartIQ supports our internal efforts and will provide us with the piece we’ve been missing.”
Added Steve Mitgang, SmartDrive CEO: “Even for an industry leader like Groendyke, there is no such thing as ‘good enough.’ When it comes to safety, fleets not only need to make sure they understand the root cause of collisions and are proactively coaching drivers to correct unsafe behaviors, but also recognizing safe habits.
“We applaud Groendyke for always looking for ways to improve safety and look forward to collaborating for many years into the future.”
To hear more from SmartDrive customers, visit smartdrive.net/why-smartdrive/customer-success.