Today, many vehicles in Dutch fleets have some form of camera system installed. From a simple system with a camera facing forward and placed on the dashboard to an elaborate system where the technology captures all angles around a vehicle. If you go back 10 years, you will discover that this was not actually standard.

The history of video telematics solutions

Lack of data at an incident and lack of footage meant fleet managers had little to no information about what their drivers were doing on the roads. They had to rely on witness statements to decipher how a collision occurred. Fleet managers were often in the dark when it came to risk management, and implementing preventive measures was particularly challenging.

In recent years, new advances in technology have revolutionized fleet road safety. Vehicle cameras give drivers an extra pair of eyes that increases visibility around a vehicle. With telematics, fleet managers gain access to data they previously had no visibility into. With video telematics, you combine video footage with data obtained from telematics. With this, drivers prevent (serious) accidents or near-collisions and fleet managers get information from the vehicles for damage control, route analysis and insight into fuel usage.

Whether you want some extra reassurance while your drivers are on the road or you want to reduce the cost you pay per year in claims, the benefits of video telematics in a fleet are enormous. It's a good idea to assess the challenges you face now or in the future and consider whether vehicle cameras and video telematics can help you overcome them. We list four benefits.

Benefit 1: Video telematics from Rietveld helps fleet managers make more informed decisions.

Video footage and vehicle data from an incident take a fleet manager's knowledge of an accident from "what happened" to "how it happened. The ability to see everything before, during and after the crash is at the heart of why vehicle safety solutions around the world are compared to the Holy Grail among fleets.

This added context is indispensable because it allows you to know why an accident occurred. It also allows fleet managers to identify any problem areas within their fleets and take action to prevent them. For example, images of an incident and the conditions of the immediate area can provide insight into a driver's performance, which can then be used to inform the type of training employees receive. Without this information, risk management decisions are based on witness testimony and guesswork.

Benefit 2: With video telematics, you make more effective decisions for your fleet.

Rietveld's vehicle safety solutions give you the tools you need to fully understand an incident and implement measures to minimize the risk of the same type of crash. These include tools such as viewing images of a crash or at any point during a vehicle's journey, to being able to access details about the speed at which a driver was traveling.

If you determine that an accident is due to one of your drivers, the cause of this accident and other information about the driver's overall performance is stored in the Driver Behaviour Dashboard. With an analysis of such things as their speed behavior, how often they idle, how hard they break and other metrics, you have immediate input for which you can give drivers targeted training for improvement.

Benefit 3: Reed Field helps minimize insurance claims with your fleet.

The crucial moments leading to an accident can show exactly who was responsible for the incident. Therefore, the footage and vehicle data can be uploaded to Cloud at any time during the vehicle's journey. This is a purpose-built and secure cloud based hosting platform on the online hub and this is shared with the insurer to handle a claim quickly. This makes it quickly clear whether a claim is justified or not.

Being able to store and view camera footage also helps reduce the frequency of claims as it provides information for risk management strategy and generates data to evaluate and improve the performance of your fleet. The processes of the video telematics system are developed to ensure AVG and internal policies.

Benefit 4: Video telematics helps drivers minimize the risk they pose to other road users

Rietveld's innovative hardware and software solutions video telematics are designed to improve driver safety and reduce the risk of accidents. For example, our range of vehicle cameras eliminates vehicle blind spots. With an extension Driver Distraction AI monitor. This system monitors real-time driving behavior and can alert a driver when they are distracted by these signs.

Pedestrian AI is another form of artificial intelligence. It prioritizes vulnerable road users by issuing an alert if a human is detected by one of the side or rear cameras and displays the images on a monitor in front of the driver. The HD image quality highlights the risk, allowing drivers to maneuver more deliberately and avoid incidents. Fleet managers can also view the images through an online hub. This gives them peace of mind that they have done everything possible to facilitate safe driving

Rietveld's video telematics system offers many ways to improve a fleet's vehicle safety and deploy it efficiently.

Want to know more about video telematics? Feel free to contact us. We'll be happy to tell you more about it or come by with our demo vehicle.