Using Lytx DriveCam® to protect Kroger stores’ 1,300 daily deliveries has cut collision rates in half

Before DriveCam^®, trend was five catastrophic events a year

SAN DIEGO – June 15, 2017 –

Kroger Safety Manager John Lobenberg spent 20 years in the Air Force as an in-flight refueling manager/technician, where two words drove every thought and every action behind all flight operations: “Safety first.” Those same words drove him to adopt the Lytx DriveCam video telematics safety program to reverse a troubling trend in liability among Kroger’s dedicated fleet of over 1,200 vehicles.

“Liability spending was increasing year over year, and we’d just suffered three major driving incidents,” said Lobenberg, who feels a personal responsibility to protect not only the Kroger associates behind the wheel, but also the public and the well-known grocery and retail brands they represent. “Changing that trend was all about proactively managing driver behavior.”

After reviewing other safety programs, Kroger adopted the Lytx DriveCam program. The DriveCam^® exception-based video telematics program combines video capture of road incidents such as hard braking or sudden swerving, data analysis of those incidents, and personalized coaching insights to improve driving behavior. Today, Lytx^® helps protect more than 650,000 commercial and government fleet drivers under its DriveCam program.

Kroger Logistics prioritized cities with the largest collision-related spend to pilot DriveCam and to help Kroger’s leadership team understand how DriveCam could deliver a healthy 3:1 return on investment.

“Kroger’s fleet and their drivers are brand ambassadors on the road each and every day and Lytx gives us the tools to coach them,” Lobenberg said.

 “The results of the DriveCam program have been tremendous. Within four months, we saw a 50 percent reduction in collisions, a 71 percent reduction in handheld cell phone use, and an 82 percent reduction of Driver Unbelted incidents,” said Lobenberg. Reducing Driver Unbelted incidents is critical, because drivers who don’t wear their seat belts are 3.4 times more likely to get into a collision than those who do, according to Lytx data.

Key lessons learned from the pilot: drivers forget about the camera

Lobenberg found the two-city pilot enlightening, and it helped him prepare for the full-fleet roll out. Among his key learnings:

• There’s a lot more risky behavior going on than he thought, from big risks like distracted driving to minor risks. “About 15 percent of our drivers represented 80 percent of our risk,” said Lobenberg, who makes the most of the data-driven insights Lytx provides to ensure he’s running an effective program.
• It only took about a week for drivers to forget that the event camera was there.
• Having driver coaches is of utmost importance – “They’ve been there and they’re listened to.” That said, not all coaches selected have the same skill level and will likely need coaching themselves.
• An unanticipated benefit was reduced maintenance costs, especially with tires, because drivers were no longer “bouncing off curbs.”
• Video proved to be a high-value piece of evidence to exonerate drivers.
• DriveCam helps make recognition programs easy by delivering information on drivers who do everything right. “Truly good, life-saving driving is hard to observe,” said Lobenberg.

About Lytx

At Lytx^® we harness the power of data to change human behavior and help good companies become even better. Our flagship service, Lytx DriveCam^® sets the standard for fleet safety in the industries we serve, and our RAIR^® Compliance Services helps DOT-regulated fleets comply with safety regulations, complementing the DriveCam^® Program. Lytx ActiveVision^® service helps fleets detect and address distracted and drowsy driving, both in real time and over time, and the Unisyn™ platform offers video without limits for fleets and field operations of any profile. We protect more than 2,600 commercial and government fleet clients worldwide who drive billions of miles each year. We enable our clients to realize significant ROI by lowering operating and insurance costs, while achieving greater efficiency and compliance. Most of all, we strive to help save lives – on our roads and in our communities, every day. Lytx is privately held and headquartered in San Diego. For more information, visit www.lytx.com/, @lytx on Twitter, or on our YouTube channel.