ORLANDO. Technology provider Lytx highlighted two new services during a press conference here at the 2017 American Trucking Associations (ATA) Management Conference & Exhibition (MC&E).
First, its new Lytx video services program, unveiled back in September and now being shipped to customers, and second its new Lytx RAIR compliance services that will be activated December 18 once the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate goes into effect.
The firm’s new video services program combines an event recorder with video cameras – all via the cloud – along with new software so fleets can tap into “video evidence” a number of different ways:
- Help motor carriers evaluate both driving and non-driving processes and procedures to improve the effectiveness of their operations and provide “coaching” where needed.
- Provide proof or confirmation of the true story, such as load delivery times, delays due to roadway construction, etc.
- Allow for “virtual ride alongs” so managers can confirm drivers are following the proper operational and safety procedures.
- Provide “look back” video evidence in case of accident claims and other incidences.
“The key, we discovered, was giving our clients the ability to easily – and quickly – go back to a specific point in time to see exactly what happened, from any view they desired,” noted Lytx Chairman and CEO Brandon Nixon. “This ability to see more – and therefore know and do more – about what’s happening in the vehicle and in the field could completely transform how a fleet operates.”
He added that Lytx’s new video service package can connected to a “hub” that will allow up to four cameras to be “plugged into” the central unit: cameras mounted inside a trailer, for example, to monitor cargo conditions, or on the side of the vehicles to provide views of driver “blind spots.”
Nixon also noted that Lytx is also adding new RAIR compliance services for more comprehensive and efficient management of hours-of-service (HOS) and Compliance Safety Accountability (CSA) fleet issues, helping to lower the risk of violations.
Lytx RAIR compliance services currently audits more than eight million electronic and paper logs each month for more than 1,300 fleets and has added the capability to validate electronic and paper logs with events and supporting documentation against the driver's duty status, using data from fuel cards, GPS, electronic toll transponders, roadside inspections, accidents, and more.
The result is a comprehensive audit of 100% of driver logs, with a precise analysis of documentation gaps and flags for falsified, incomplete or inaccurate log, noted Rick Walters, general manager of Lytx RAIR, in a separate statement.
The new Lytx RAIR package “presents those insights in an 'at-a-glance' dashboard of a driver's compliance status, and helps safety and compliance managers prioritize their actions to reduce risk,” he explained.
That “dashboard” displays shows at a glance:
- HOS violation statistics, quickly answering whether they're trending upward or downward, how they are performing against specific HOS rules, and how violations are influencing CSA scores.
- CSA Group BASIC scores, showing the CSA percentile for the associated DOT number in each of the seven BASICS compared to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) intervention threshold for each BASIC. This allows users to evaluate how performance is trending and see what violation types contribute the most to the score.
- Group ranking, quickly identifying which terminals/locations are struggling with HOS or CSA violations, enabling the safety and compliance manager to detect and address the groups or locations that are having the biggest impact on both risk and compliance.
- Driver ranking, quickly revealing which drivers are generating HOS or CSA violations, enabling the safety and compliance manager to work with the drivers who are having the biggest impact on both risk and compliance.
- Location Ranking, enabling the safety and compliance manager to view a roll up of performance trends by a specific location.
Walters added that RAIR accesses the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) portal on a daily basis and the Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) database on a monthly basis to capture all violations so its dashboard always reflects the most current information available.
