Driver Adoption of Road Safety Technologies

We can all agree that avoiding road collisions is good business. One of the primary agencies conducting research on roadway and driver safety is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In a study looking at critical reasons of road collisions, they found that 94% of collisions are caused by driver behaviour. A great deal of effort has gone into designing and engineering vehicle safety and improving roads which have no doubt made a positive impact, however, has a similar amount of effort gone into driver training and monitoring its effectiveness to reduce driver induced collisions? Without doubt, the adoption of advanced, AI based, in vehicle monitoring system (IVMS) and ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems), will play a fundamental role in moving the driving safety bar to the next level, however what are we doing for improve driver adoption of these technologies?

Concerns remain unaddressed on privacy and consequences of violation. The driver’s question of “What is in it for me?”  mostly remain unaddressed. The importance of total driver engagement to adopt and apply these technologies cannot be over emphasized, and what better way to address this than answer the question, “What is in it for me?“

Here are some simple but effective tips:

1. Lead by example, by total management adoption.
2. Assure drivers of privacy protection and ensure strict enforcement of the privacy policy.
3. Using historic data and real-life examples, project the impact of technology adoption to help save lives.
4. Give a sense of security and assurance to the driver by implementing a “no blame culture” and limiting punitive consequences to extreme driving behaviours only.
5. Provide reasons to adopt the technology by incentivizing its adoption, good driving behavior and encouraging peer adoption.
6. Implement periodic driver data reviews to provide positive reinforcement and discuss areas of improvement.
7. Implement driver packs and pack leaders that encourage the team to work as a unit in improving their overall performance. Instill a sense of pride and implement rewards for packs that excel.