Consistent with the national trends for injury crashes involving large trucks, TITAN Freight Systems noticed an alarming trend with their fleet. From 2014-2017, they tripled their number of incidents, and doubled their claims costs. Those numbers signified a higher risk of a fatality – and this was the biggest concern for a management team that was laser-focused on safety.
TITAN discovered that an increase in highway speeds and a decrease in law enforcement budgets were key contributors. Also, there are more distracted drivers on the road, which has become so dangerous that it’s being referred to as “the new DUI.” The company felt that it was more important than ever to help their drivers develop safer driving habits.
TITAN was clear on their main goal of zero fatalities. “If we can save one life, it’s worth it,” said Keith Wilson, President of TITAN. Their secondary goals were to exonerate drivers, and to proactively train unsafe behavior out of drivers.
We had zero deductible events in the last year, and we feel confident that it’s because of the driver behavior that we were able to show them through the AI. The amount we lowered our insurance was more than the amount we paid for the Netradyne Driveri system.
— Keith Wilson, President, TITAN Freight Systems
Wilson was keen on the idea of analyzing 100% of drive time. He wanted a deep understanding of the risk details of the fleet. Without a trial run, TITAN installed Netradyne Driver•i®, which uses edge computing to analyze data in real time on the device. The AI-enabled camera visually captures signs, signals, pedestrians and other objects, providing a complete view of driver compliance to law enforcement and safe driving standards.
With access to the complete picture, TITAN was able reduce unsafe events by 77% in 10 months of use, with only the exterior cameras enabled. They saw immediate improvement when the drivers managed their own behavior through the mobile app. The numbers improved further upon commencing manager coaching.
Once TITAN enabled the interior cameras, they saw a 96% reduction in distracted driving alerts in just two weeks. The AI within Driveri accurately captured distracted driving events, and the system provided in-cab alerts so the drivers could adjust their behavior. While there was initial concern about retention, “We didn’t lose any drivers due to the interior cab cams,” Wilson said.
“The drivers really wanted to earn the safety bonus, to do well, and when they saw their distracted driving behavior, there was a lot of buy-in,” said Wilson. “Driveri allows us to work in a collaborative sense with the drivers versus a confrontational one. We really focus on the bonus part—the GreenZone® minutes—which is the vast majority of their time. We’re very happy with the system as a whole to focus on safe behaviors.”
With the decrease in unsafe events and distracted driving, TITAN has been able to reverse the worrisome trend they saw in 2018. The results were a dramatic drop in claims costs (down 79%) and collision-related incidents (down 50%). With the help of Driveri, they are able to confidently maintain their status as a very safe fleet.
Experienced rapid improvement in all areas of concern
TITAN Freight Systems is the premier overnight Less- than-TruckLoad (LTL) carrier in the Pacific Northwest region. Over the course of their 50+ years in business, they have invested in extraordinary technology that is focused on the customer and the team’s safety. They have a per- sistent focus on quality and a mission to offer the highest level of customer satisfaction, service and safety. TITAN employs 60 drivers and has 44 trucks in their fleet.
