Dive Brief:
- To help mitigate increasing insurance costs spurred by accident settlements, truckers and trucking companies are utilizing smartphone cameras as dash cams, the Journal of Commerce reported Wednesday.
- Greenlight, the company behind the new smartphone app began with the idea of a better dashcam, before realizing a smartphone could be more efficient.
- Not only does a smartphone serve as an effective dashcam, but also removes temptation from drivers; if it's in a cradle, tracking the road, it can't be used for calls or texts.
Dive Insight:
Dashcams and telematics are gaining an increased presence in commercial trucking.
Not only do dashcams help decrease insurance rates, but they and other methods of technological engagement also assist truckers by offering more thorough communications between dispatchers and drivers, and better, more helpful monitoring of routes, required breaks, and the prevention of potential exhaustion.
Rather than viewing a greater degree of connectivity as akin to having Big Brother inside the cab, drivers can actually increase their protection by utilizing available feedback from outside sources. Learning in advance that a roadblock ahead could delay delivery, or that highway conditions have become suddenly dangerous, thus preventing an accident, is gaining more traction in the argument against maintaining an elusive sense of freedom.
