SAN DIEGO – May 11, 2010 – DriveCam Inc., a global Driver Risk Management company, continued its Insights Series™ by releasing its third DriveCam Insights Report. Designed to provide insight for executives and managers throughout a variety of transportation industries, DriveCam’s Insights Series is derived from DriveCam’s extensive database of over 17 million driving events from 2 billion driving miles – the largest in the world.
The third industry to go under the microscope is the utilities industry. Initial research found a few surprises, specifically concerning distracted driving. With so much focus in the news on collisions caused by distracted driving, DriveCam was surprised to find that it actually ranks #4 on the list of behaviors. Driving fundamentals and traffic violations are a bigger issue than Distractions in the utilities Industry. Traffic violations (in the #2 spot) includes violation of basic traffic laws, such as rolling stops, running red lights and running through stop signs. The Top 5 Driving Behaviors among all utility vehicles in order are:
1. Following too Close
2. Traffic Violations
3. Not Looking Far Ahead
4. Distractions
5. Failed to Keep an Out
CNA, a provider of commercial insurance products recently released a study of insurance claims among utility contractors. Of particular note is the evaluation of auto claims by type of incident. CNA estimates that 20% of total claims were the result of a utility vehicle rear-ending another vehicle. This statistic supports DriveCam’s finding of Following Too Close as the riskiest behavior in utilities, as this would naturally lead to more rear-end collisions.
Delving a bit deeper into the data, DriveCam examined Collision Rates (collisions per vehicle in service) among different vehicles types in service for the Utilities Industry. The collision rate varies from 3.3 percent for haulers/heavy equipment vehicles to 14.8 percent for light duty trucks.
DriveCam’s Insights Series will be released on an on-going basis. Next up: Utilities Behaviors and Collisions vs. Other Industries.