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Fleet management systems have been around a while and have become so complex that it has evolved into Field Resource Management. This article explores 5 reasons why all fleets need at least a basic Field Resource Management system.
In a recent police crackdown in England, named Operation Tramline, a man was caught using a laptop and drinking a hot cup of coffee while driving. Another man was seen eating a pear with a knife while driving while a third motorist was seen writing down the answers to a quiz on the radio.
Distracted driving has become a real problem. Not only is it illegal, but it is dangerous. “I hear, almost daily, accounts of people who are injured while texting,” said Dr. Angela Gardner, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Gardner said “It has stopped being an oddity when we hear that someone was texting and has a wreck. Now it’s more of a fairly common occurrence…While sending out a status update during a leisurely drive may seem innocuous, it only takes a moment for distracted drivers to become vulnerable.”
According to Sgt. Paul Diamond, 84 vehicles in Operation Tramline were stopped due to offenses being witnessed, and of these 55% were commercial vehicles, according to BBC News.
SOS! Reality TV star Bethenny Frankel and her husband, Jason Hoppy, were lost at sea for over 20 hours after a sailing trip went incredibly wrong. Bethenny and Jason, along with a Bravo film crew, were aboard a sailing vessel headed towards Nantucket, Massachusetts. The boat was struck by a huge, rogue wave, causing the GPS system on the boat to malfunction.
There were about 10 people on the boat, stuck in the middle of the deep sea with no land or anybody nearby.
Pharmacies and supermarkets across the US are being equipped with a real-time tracking system that registers sales of products with pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient for making illegal meth commonly found in cold and allergy medications.
Next time you or a loved one catches a cold, chances are you will head to the local drug store and purchase an over-the-counter (OTC) medication to relieve the symptoms. If your local market has the real-time meth tracking system installed, the tracking system will scan a picture of your I.D. and record the amount of drugs bought. It also can show the cashier if you have exceeded the amount you are legally allowed to buy. The cashier can then refuse to sell to a customer that has exceeded his or her limit.
Fleet tracking systems are a worthwhile investment for many companies, large and small. Most users see a positive ROI in less than 90 days. Here’s a few reasons why:
1. A fleet tracking system can drastically improve customer service. You can impress your customers by giving them precise arrival or delivery times, based upon the actual location of your vehicles at the moment they call. You can respond quicker to last minute customer requests because the system is able to quickly locate and notify the driver that is closest to the client.
2. Employee productivity is often improved because managers are able to document long lunch hours, monitor unauthorized breaks, prevent employee overtime and maintain electronic driver records to prevent vehicle usage after hours or on weekends. Many business cut overtime costs immediately.
LighSquared Execs Say GPS Device Users Were Aware Of and Supportive Of LightSquared’s Network, But Continued To Operate Out of Their Licensed Spectrum. Therefore Certain GPS Users Such As Trimble Should Carry Some of the Financial Burden of Solving the Interference Issues. This weekend LightSquared’s General Counsel, Curtis Lu, said “The GPS industry continues to […]
Illegal poaching of fish and other sea life, known as maritime poaching, happens everyday all over the world. This winter, Maryland Natural Resources Police discovered more than 13 tons of poached striped bass, also called rockfish, in illegally anchored nets in the Chesapeake Bay.
The poaching finds led fisheries agencies to close rock fish season early. Natural Resources Police served search warrants related to the poaching but have not yet made any arrests.
The Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources is hoping to reduce the illegal fishing by launching a pilot program that would use GPS tracking systems to monitor the movements of commercial fishing boats.
GPS tracking systems discourage illegal fishing by allowing agencies to track commercial fishing boats that go into closed areas or operate during restricted times. They are being used increasingly across the United States and Canada but would be new to Maryland, according to Tom O’Connell, director of DNR’s fisheries service
Anyone with an HTC smartphone should be aware that their private data may not be safe, due to a massive security flaw. The security flaw was discovered by a security researcher, Trevor Eckhart, and revealed in a report from Android Police, a blog that has exposed security problems with Android-based smartphones in the past. The […]
Should police be allowed to use a GPS tracking device to monitor someone – at anytime, for any reason, without their knowledge or consent – without first obtaining a warrant based on probable cause?
After being torn apart by the media, customers, lawmakers, and being described by a Senator as “one of the most brazen invasions of privacy in recent memory” OnStar has decided to reverse its new customer tracking policy. The new policy, announced last week to customer via email, gave OnStar permission to continue to gather speed, location and related customer data from all users – even ones that had cancelled services – and then sell the information to third parties.
The OnStar system embeds a mobile phone and GPS in customer’s cars and relays a constant stream of data back to the company recording basic speed and location, whether the driver is wearing a seat belt, and tire pressure, as well as reporting accidents. This latter function is the system’s principal selling point, and numerous lives have been saved by the car alerting emergency services that a crash has occurred.
Even if an OnStar user cancelled services, the secondary connection would remain active and the company could continue to gather and sell the user’s tracking data – unless the customer specifically contacted OnStar for an opt-out request.
Democratic senator, Chris Coons of Delaware, said, “As location-based mobile technology becomes a larger part of consumers’ lives, it’s important that we’re vigilant about balancing convenience with privacy.”
OnStar’s 6 million current subscribers should be aware – it still maintains the right to track active customers.
