Nandini Tare

Customer Value Leadership Distracted Driving Solutions

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Solutions for Distracted Driving

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SOLUTIONS FOR DISTRACTED DRIVING ................................................................................ 3

INDUSTRY PROBLEM OVERVIEW ..................................................................................... 3

MARKET DRIVERS AND CHARACTERISTICS................................................................ 3, 4

MANAGING RISK AND LIABILITY FOR CORPORATIONS ................................................. 4

SOLUTION CONSIDERATIONS ................................................................................... 4, 5

LEADING ENTERPRISE-CLASS CAPABILITIES .................................................................. 5

AUTOMATED REPORTING ........................................................................................ 5, 6

QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN EVALUATING SOLUTIONS ...................................................... 6

POLICY FLEXIBILTY? ...................................................................................................... 6

DEVICE SUPPORT? ........................................................................................................ 6

TRIGGER METHODS? ................................................................................................ 6, 7

ADMINISTRATION, ANALYTICS AND REPORTING? ........................................................ 7

EXPERIENCE AND REFERENCES? ................................................................................... 7

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SOLUTIONS FOR DISTRACTED DRIVING

INDUSTRY PROBLEM OVERVIEW

The increasing prevalence and growing capabilities of smartphones have increased the

frequency with which today’s drivers are tempted to take their minds off their driving. This

is often made even more dangerous when drivers also take their eyes off the road and

their hands off the wheel.

When you consider that smartphones – capable of texting, browsing the Internet, emailing

and playing videos – account for more than half of the U.S. mobile phone market today

and are on course to replace the desktop computer as the primary Internet portal, it

becomes clear that distracted driving is an escalating threat to safety. In fact, the National

Safety Council estimates that at least 24% of crashes in 2010 involved drivers using cell

phones, which puts it on par with drunk driving as a leading cause of accidents, injury and

death.

Now more than ever, the potential for distracted driving poses an ominous challenge to

any company’s risk management program and poses one of the greatest risks of injury or

death for young drivers. The growing level of public support for combating distracted

driving can be seen in public opinion polls and in the more than 200 pieces of related

legislation that have been passed or introduced since 2009. Accidents due to the use of

cell phones in vehicles cause $50–100 billion annually in damages in North America alone

and are one of the largest preventable sources of injury and loss of life.

MARKET DRIVERS AND CHARACTERISTICS

Corporations concerned with risk and liability due to driver negligence, vicarious liability,

direct negligence and punitive damages are the industry’s earliest adopters of technology

solutions to enforce safe driving policies. In the event of a distracted driving accident,

mere compliance with federal regulations and state laws will not absolve a company of

liability, nor will it shield a business from a bankrupting verdict. And this is not a

hypothetical risk. In the last 10 years, courts have seen an “explosion” of distracted driving

cases. In the last five years, juries – emboldened by a “profits over safety” trial theme –

have rendered numerous multi-million dollar verdicts.

Over 50 million licensed drivers in North America drive for more than 20% of the time

during their employment and comprise the greatest liability for enterprise risk

management programs. While most corporations have paper policies and training

programs in place, non-compliance with policy is high. Insurance, academic and

government research shows that 50–70% of employees violate policy on a weekly basis

and 80–90% violate policy on a monthly basis. The exposure for corporations is immense,

as employees who violate policy are 4–23 times more likely to have an accident or a near-

accident event.

“Corporations concerned

with risk and liability due

to driver negligence,

vicarious liability, direct

negligence and punitive

damages are the

industry’s earliest

adopters of technology

solutions to enforce safe

driving policies.”

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Solutions for Distracted Driving

While corporations driven by concern for risk and liability have been the industry’s earliest

adopters, parents concerned with the safety of their children as young drivers are also

good candidates for technology solutions to enforce safe driving practices. There are

approximately 10 million young drivers aged 16–19 in North America who are at greatest

risk. Such drivers are least able to drive effectively in the presence of distractions and,

unfortunately, are most likely to be tempted to text, tweet, browse or talk on their mobile

devices while driving.

MANAGING RISK AND LIABILITY FOR CORPORATIONS

Smart risk management can save lives, reduce injuries, and limit a company’s accident-

related costs.

Employers have a legal duty to provide their employees with a reasonably safe workplace.

This includes developing adequate safety rules and policies, and warning of potential

hazards of which the employer is or should be aware. Vehicles are not simply for driving

anymore – the modern workplace includes the mobile office, and distracted driving is a

recognized hazard, if not an extremely dangerous problem. Toward this end, an employer

has a duty to exercise reasonable care to control the activities of its employees when they

are acting on behalf of or for the company and/or are using an employer’s “chattel.”

Developing a safe driving policy which addresses the responsible use of mobile devices is

a necessary first step in managing the risks associated with distracted driving. The

National Safety Council (NSC) warns that “employers should set policies that exceed

existing rules, regulations and laws.” The practical goal is to limit distracting behaviors; the

aspirational goal is to eliminate them. However, a policy without some means to monitor,

audit and enforce that policy will actually increase liability, not limit it. Details of an

employer’s cell phone policies can be used as evidence. An employer must demonstrate

that a policy has been enforced. The policy must be more than words on paper.

Legal precedence has shown that “[a] wrongful act committed by an employee while

acting in his employer’s business does not take the employee out of the scope of

employment, even if the employer expressly forbids the act.” Under this rubric, the only

way to escape liability is to take all reasonable steps towards preventing the offending

conduct.

SOLUTION CONSIDERATIONS

Fortunately, there are now a variety of technology solutions to help companies prevent

distracted driving. Companies can ensure that mobile devices are used safely and in

compliance with federal, state and/or local laws. For practical purposes, these

technologies can be categorized into two groups: “Active” controls and “Passive” controls.

Active controls require software installed on the mobile device, and give the employer the

ability to determine which features function while the employee is driving.

“The various choices of

solutions both active and

passive, offered by Aegis

Mobility meets enterprise

requirements for

monitoring safe use of

mobile phones in

vehicles.”

- Nandini Tare,

Industry Analyst,

Frost & Sullivan

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Passive controls do not require software installed on the mobile device; instead, they

utilize data from fleet management and wireless billing systems to empirically measure

employee use of a mobile device while driving.

LEADING ENTERPRISE-CLASS CAPABILITIES

As enterprise organizations seek to improve safety for their employees and to reduce risk

and liability related to distracted driving, the capabilities of the solution to provide for

simple administration, to deliver analysis of “big data” and to report on that data in a clear

and meaningful manner is critically important.

Aegis provides the industry’s leading web-based portal (FleetSafer® Crossroads) for

administration and reporting. Crossroads offers Device Activity and Driver Event reports.

DEVICE ACTIVITY SUMMARY

The Device Activity report summarizes the deployment status of all devices that have been

provisioned in the system. Once a device registers with Aegis servers, it is counted as

Registered. If a device stops contacting Aegis servers, after three days it transitions to

Recent, seven days – Idle, and after 60 days, Inactive. Sections of the bar chart or table are

dynamically selectable to drill down to devices within an activity status.

DEVICE ACTIVITY DETAILS

Historical device activity reports can be exported and used for cost allocation, device

reconciliation and asset tracking. You can easily export a list of devices that have

registered with Aegis servers in the past 60 days.

Driver event reports include calls and ptt calls (made/received) and text messages

(sent/received), plus:

Fiddles (manual interaction with device)

Tampers (attempts to defeat the screen block)

Passenger override button presses

For each event type, time, location and other details are reported. Crossroads presents

event summaries in charts, event counts in tables and event plots on maps.

AUTOMATED REPORTING

Aegis provides a unique Automated Infraction Reporting and Improvement (AIRI) system

which allows customers to set up actions to be taken based upon changes in key

performance indicators.

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Solutions for Distracted Driving

For example, if an enterprise policy allows zero usage of mobile devices while driving, any

fiddle or tamper events may automatically be reported to the employee with a warning,

perhaps with a copy of the message sent to the employee’s manager.

As a second example, if an enterprise policy allows no usage other than handsfree voice

calls, but also encourages employees to limit the frequency and duration of such calls,

thresholds may be set such that an automatic reminder is sent to an employee if they

exceed an average of 10 calls in a day, or if all their handsfree calls in a day exceeds 60

minutes.

The AIRI system allows enterprise organizations to implement their safe driving policies in

a software system that automatically monitors, reports and enforces compliance with

company policy. The end result is the safest environment for employees (and other

drivers) and the lowest risk and liability for the corporation vis-à-vis distracted driving due

to mobile device use.

QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN EVALUATING SOLUTIONS

When evaluating which technology solution is best for any given company, employers

should consider these questions:

POLICY FLEXIBILITY?

Different employers have different policies. Some have “zero tolerance” policies that

prohibit any and all use of mobile devices while driving. Others have hands-free policies

that prohibit texting, emailing and browsing, but permit inbound and outbound hands-free

phone calls. Therefore, when considering technology solutions it is important to choose a

vendor that offers maximum flexibility with regard to policy configurations, device types,

and implementation options.

DEVICE SUPPORT?

The rapid proliferation of mobile devices has led to significant fragmentation in terms of

device types. Be sure to develop a solid understanding of the devices that are covered by

various vendors. Also make sure to understand how the same application can behave

differently on different device types. Finally, ask questions about each vendor’s roadmap

plans for developing additional device features and their plans for iOS support.

TRIGGER METHODS?

Large enterprise requirements are highly diverse and spread across many different types

of vehicles, drivers and devices. Covering this fragmented environment demands

technology designed with maximum flexibility and multiple trigger options (software only

and hardware assisted). Software-only triggers (GPS-based) are desirable because they

work in any type of vehicle and they do not require additional capital investment in

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hardware systems. Hardware-assisted triggers require an incremental capital investment

in hardware and may not work in all types of vehicles, but do offer real-time (2-3 sec)

indication of driving state. Ideally, a single vendor can offer both.

ADMINISTRATION, ANALYTICS AND REPORTING?

A proper technology solution should give the company the ability to easily set up and

administer employee drivers. It should also allow the business to see how driving behavior

is actually being modified (e.g., number of distractions averted, safe driving hours logged,

etc.). Such data informs the level of compliance and enables corrective guidance and

improvement actions when necessary. Additionally, alerts and notifications based on

threshold triggers for key metrics provide the enterprise with the ability to implement

automatic rules-based enforcement of policy that ensures conformance, reducing risk and

liability.

EXPERIENCE AND REFERENCES?

Ultimately, the most important consideration when making a decision is to select a vendor

that has successfully deployed software solutions in support of others so that the

company can ask these other customers questions about the technology and their

experience with it.