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FieldLogix announces the release of its guide for creating a company policy for dash cameras. The guide discusses all of the factors involved when creating a dash camera policy and how to make the policy driver-friendly in order to minimize driver resistance. “In todays’ litigious world, fleets are often targeted by unscrupulous motorists for insurance […]
FieldLogix, an industry leading GPS fleet tracking system, recently launched an online Fuel Efficiency Driver Training Program. Training that targets fuel efficiency can help drivers recognize and change driving habits that waste fuel. Even highly experienced truck drivers can boost their skills and enhance driving performance through fuel efficiency driver training programs.
A few simple changes in driving techniques can produce sizable fuel savings of 5 percent or more, according to the EPA. Fleets that improve fuel economy by at least 5 percent through driver training and monitoring programs can save more than $1,200 per truck each year in fuel costs and eliminate 8 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per truck each year.
The Fleet Management Department in Santa Ana, CA recently announced plans to create and operate an environmentally responsible fleet, focusing primarily on alternative fuel and fuel efficiency. The City’s Green Fleet will be powered by 75 to 80 percent renewable and sustainable energy within the next five years. There are also plans to reduce the size of the fleet 10-15% over the next 1-2 years.
Santa Ana Fleet Management operates more than 900 vehicles, from fire trucks and police cruisers to riding lawn mowers. Over the past few years, Fleet Managers have added several natural-gas, hybrid and electric vehicles to its fleet, and brought in five hydrogen vehicles and fueling stations. Currently, five percent of the City’s 900 vehicles operate on alternative fuels.
Many people are aware that a GPS fleet tracking system can help companies save money on fuel, increase productivity and improve the bottom line. Some fleet tracking systems even help companies go green by reducing vehicle emissions. But a recent story proves that fleet GPS systems can also provide a myriad of other benefits – including saving a father’s life.
A woman in Louisiana, Joyce Rawls, was concerned about her father because his mental facilities were deteriorating due to Alzheimer’s disease. Anyone who has seen someone they love suffer from Alzheimer’s knows how painful and difficult this must be. The woman decided to purchase a GPS fleet tracking system and had it installed in her father’s vehicle in 2008. Turns out this decision may have saved her father’s life.
The fleet tracking device was installed in her father’s truck for two years before they needed to use it to find him. Then, in April of 2010, her father left the house and either forgot where he was going or forgot how to get back home.
According to a recent press release from TrackNet, the woman said, “My mom called and said that he had not made it back home,” Ms. Rawls reports. “I immediately knew something was wrong and pulled him up on the computer, with our tracking system.” She found her father’s truck in Shreveport, LA, over 30 miles south of his home in Plain Dealing, La. Ms. Rawls immediately called the police in Shreveport, La. and they were curious as to how she knew her father was there. “When I told the police about the tracking unit in my father’s truck and that he has Alzheimer’s, they were very impressed and said it was a smart idea.”
Well known soccer star Jaba Mahlangu aka “Pule” was busted this weekend in a stolen car. After the vehicle was reported stolen,vehicle tracking company Netstar was immediately notified. The NetStar vehicle tracking system was able to help police find and recover the stolen vehicle. The suspects apparently had no idea the car was equipped with a GPS tracking system.
The stolen vehicle was not easy for police to recover. The driver of the vehicle was trying to lose the police and drove at very high speeds in an attempt to get away. Using the GPS signal from the vehicle tracking system along with the help of an overhead flight squad, law enforcement finally was able to catch the driver and recover the stolen car.
LightSquared, the hybrid cellular/satellite wireless option that some believe could be a fourth generation mobile outlet for the cable industry, is running tests that may effect GPS system signals in the Las Vegas area. The tests are being conducted in cooperation with the GPS industry and multiple federal agencies this week throughout June in Las Vegas suburb Boulder City.
LightSquared is testing to see whether its service network interferes with GPS system signals. The Las Vegas Sun reports that a test will run after midnight for several hours for 10 days, and it appears to be the first lengthy real-world test to determine whether the operator’s network interferes with GPS systems.
Government agencies have warned law enforcement, pilots, and several other groups that LightSquared’s tests could possibly knock out GPS systems in the Las Vegas area. Late last week, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an alert to pilots that “the GPS signal may be unreliable or unavailable” within a nearly 300-mile radius of Boulder City, where the test transmitter will be located.
For the thousands of drivers getting ready to hit the road for the upcoming Memorial weekend holiday, there is finally good news about gas prices. The current average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gas in the US is currently $3.85, eleven cents less than one week ago. Prices are only one cent higher than they were averaging a month ago, according to the AAA Fuel Gauge Report.
Diesel fuel prices are also on the decline. Diesel fuel is currently averaging $4.06 a gallon, seven cents less than one month ago. The decrease in diesel fuel prices effects the whole economy because prices of items people consume everyday from food to toilet paper are affected by gas prices.
This weekend a man in New Jersey was driving in heavy fog with his wife and children in the car. Unsure of where he was going, and with very limited visibility, he was blindly relying on is GPS system….and ending up driving straight into someone’s house.
The accident happened on at an intersection where drivers could only turn left or right. Instead, the driver told police he was relying on his GPS system, which said to go straight at the intersection.
Not only did the driver miss his turn, he also went through a stop sign without stopping and then continued off-road for 100 feet before hitting a house. The driver and his son were unharmed but his wife and 13-year-old daughter, neither of whom were wearing seat belts, both reportedly suffered serious neck and head injuries.
This week a man in El Paso, TX, left his truck running in the driveway and ran back inside to retrieve something before he headed off to work. He told the Police he was only away from the vehicle for a few moments, and to his dismay, someone jumped inside the running vehicle and drove away.
Lucky for the truck owner, he had left his iPhone on the passenger seat of the vehicle. Police said 29-year-old, Joshua Mitzelfelt, allegedly stole the unattended vehicle but did not notice the iPhone.
The truck owner began tracking his vehicle’s location though a website monitoring the phone’s GPS system application while updating sheriff dispatchers. Officers spotted the truck about seven miles from the owner’s residence and arrested the driver.
Executives from Apple (AAPL)and Google (GOOG)are facing another day of inquiries by the US Senate about mobile phones, privacy and user consent. Facebook even joined today’s Senate hearing. U.S. politicians are concerned that companies including Apple, Google and Facebook aren’t doing enough to protect their customers’ location privacy. Members of a U.S. Senate subcommittee are urging Congress to pass new laws awarding wireless subscribers greater control over how smartphones and applications track their location.
These companies plus thousands of developers who make applications for the companies’ platforms — are facing scrutiny over how they collect, use, and store information, including data gathered from smartphones and other wireless devices.
“I think anyone who uses a mobile device has an expectation of privacy, and sadly that expectation is not always being met,” said Sen. John Rockefeller IV, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. “The mobile marketplace is so new and technology is moving so quickly that many consumers do not understand the privacy implications of their actions…A mother posting a smartphone photograph of her child online, he suggested, may not realize that “geotagged” location data may be embedded in the image file.”
