Drivewyze has rolled out a groundbreaking service app, Drivewyze Free, designed to enhance in-cab safety for commercial truck drivers. The app delivers crucial safety messages and advisories, providing fleets and drivers with advanced notifications about potential risks on the road, as highlighted in a recent news release.
This innovative service transmits alerts and advisories directly to telematics electronic devices, ensuring timely access to vital safety information. Drivewyze Free specifically aims to offer truckers traveling along North American freight corridors heads-up warnings for high-rollover risk areas, low bridges, mountain alerts (including steep grades, chain-up/brake check stations, and runaway ramps), and pertinent rest area details. Furthermore, the app features real-time message sets, incorporating warnings for sudden slowdowns, virtual safety signs, and public emergency broadcasts.
“This is a monumental day for our company, our safety partners, and the industry,” said Brian Heath, CEO of Drivewyze. “In collaboration with our telematics and transportation agency partners, we are excited to be giving this essential safety service to the trucking industry at no cost. There are no strings attached. We’re a safety-driven company joined by like-minded agencies and telematics partners to leverage vehicle-to-infrastructure networks to improve highway safety for everyone. We know many of our Essential Alerts and Advisories modify behavior – drivers slow down and apply less hard braking. It makes them safer behind the wheel. We’re hoping all fleets will utilize this free offering to give their drivers technology that can truly make a difference to their safety.”
When users use Drivewyze Free, they also have “access to agency-sponsored real-time traffic slowdowns and other safety alerts generated in partnership with select state transportation and enforcement agencies through the Drivewyze Smart Roadways highway safety program for connected trucks.”
Participating state departments of transportation, including New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Georgia, Delaware, Connecticut, Ohio, Texas, Arkansas, and Virginia, have already joined the initiative. Additionally, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Colorado State Police, and Wyoming Highway Patrol are active participants.
Drivewyze expresses its eagerness to collaborate with more state transportation and enforcement agencies, aiming to expand the reach of this safety-oriented service. According to Heath, essential safety alerts and advisories play a pivotal role in cultivating safer roadways.
“Unsafe driving behavior is a leading cause of truck crashes,” he said. “Messaging delivered in the vehicle, where and when drivers need it most, shows the power of connected truck technology to positively affect driving behavior. For instance, when approaching a high-rollover area, we have data that shows our alerts have reduced speed by an average of 7.3 mph for those that are going more than 5 mph over the posted speed limit. That’s an impactful difference and an example of the power of in-cab messaging to improve driver behavior and highway safety.”
A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) study underscores the significance of such initiatives, revealing that nearly 30% of all collisions occur on interstates. Of particular concern are secondary incidents, where a tractor-trailer or car rear-ends a vehicle involved in the initial crash. The NHTSA study also highlights that 46% of these secondary crashes transpire over an hour after the first incident, emphasizing the need for proactive safety measures.
“Advance notice for routes experiencing sudden or unexpected traffic slowdowns gives truck drivers time to prepare,” Heath said. “In North Carolina, where we partnered with the North Carolina DOT, studies found that 70% of drivers that received an alert slowed down ahead of an incident. And the slowdown was significant — on average by 11 mph compared to 2 mph in a control group.”
With Drivewyze Free, the aim is clear: to empower truck drivers with the information they need to navigate the roads safely and prevent accidents on our highways.
Source: The Trucker
Image: Drivewyze
