ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Con-way
Freight, a less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier and subsidiary of
Con-way Inc. (NYSE: CNW), today announced the full deployment of
Drive Safe Systems™, a suite of advanced on-board "monitor, sense
and alert" technologies, which, coupled with continuous, peer-based
driver training and coaching, will enhance overall safety
performance and operating efficiency of the company's 15,000
professional drivers operating its 8,600-truck fleet.
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Drive Safe Systems™ incorporates five in-cab technologies that
alert drivers to potential safety risks and help them respond,
improve situational awareness, provide feedback to refine
safe-driving skills and defensive-driving techniques, and maximize
safe, fuel-efficient operations.
"Drive Safe Systems is first and foremost about supporting our
drivers in the safe operation of our fleet and equipping them with
tools to continuously learn and improve," said Tom Clark, the company's senior vice president
of operations. "These technologies provide real-time feedback and
coaching that helps our drivers recognize and correct unsafe
behaviors, ultimately reducing accidents and near-misses. We want
to be proactive in preventing crashes from even happening, and that
means investing in proven technologies that complement and enhance
the driver's professional skills."
The rollout of Drive Safe Systems™ represents the addition of
two new in-cab safety technologies which join three existing "sense
and alert" on-board systems that have been factory-installed in
every new Con-way Freight tractor since late 2009. The two new
systems are:
- Event recorders. This is a compact, windshield-mounted
unit that records activity inside and outside the cab. The
recording is continuously erased unless the unit is triggered by an
event such as hard braking, turning or rapid deceleration. When
activated, the unit saves a 12-second audio and visual recording—
eight seconds before and four seconds after the event. The
recording and other supporting data is uploaded via cellular
networks to a "cloud-based" software application where it is
subsequently shared with drivers to recognize exceptional
defensive-driving performance which avoided an accident or
incident, and provide coaching to identify opportunities to improve
driving skills. Known as DriveCam® powered by Lytx™, the
hardware and software system is provided by driver safety
technology company Lytx™, Inc .
- Real-time on-board performance management. This in-cab
technology provides real-time feedback that helps the driver employ
best practices for fuel-efficient driving. The system takes into
account vehicle, road, load and environmental conditions, and gives
the driver input in areas such as shifting ranges and pace of
acceleration to achieve optimal fuel economy. Vnomics Corp.
manufactures this on-board performance management platform.
Con-way Freight's three existing "sense and alert" in-cab safety
technologies are:
- Collision avoidance featuring forward-looking radar with
adaptive cruise control, which continually measures distance to a
vehicle ahead and automatically slows the truck if it is
approaching too rapidly and the driver does not engage the brakes
in a timely manner. Known as the OnGuard™ System, this collision
avoidance technology was developed by Meritor WABCO.
- Lane departure warning, which monitors a truck's
position relative to highway lane markings and issues an audible
alert similar to traveling over a "rumble strip" if the operator
unintentionally drives out of the lane. Known as the
AutoVue® system, this technology was developed by
Iteris.
- Roll stability control, which senses conditions that are
consistent with a vehicle about to roll over, such as during hard
cornering or change of direction, visually alerts the driver, and
automatically decreases engine torque to reduce rollover tendency.
This system also was developed by Meritor WABCO.
Proactive coaching aims to prevent behaviors shown to cause
accidents
Professional athletes and coaches use video and
real-time data all the time to identify performance techniques that
can be improved, Clark noted. "We're doing the same thing with our
professional drivers and how they operate our trucks," he
explained. "It's a fundamental shift in our approach. Before we
reacted after-the-fact, analyzing accidents and why they occurred.
Now we've flipped the process, focusing instead on using technology
and real-time information as a positive, proactive coaching
experience to adjust behaviors, remove risk, prevent incidents and
improve safety."
Veteran professional drivers embrace the benefits
Mick
Galbraith has been a professional truck driver with Con-way Freight
for more than 26 years, amassing nearly 3 million miles without a
preventable accident. "I think I can speak for my fellow drivers
when I say we're competitive, we take pride in being professional,
we want to be the best. New technologies can help an experienced
driver realize opportunities to improve skills," he explained.
"These systems provide direct, real-time feedback; you can
immediately see and understand unsafe behavior. It's an opportunity
to learn and correct something before it leads to an accident.
That's a real benefit that makes the driver a better operator and
the roads safer for everyone."
First LTL carrier to adopt nationwide
Con-way Freight
is the first LTL carrier in the U.S. to simultaneously deploy both
the event recorder and advanced performance management technologies
fleet-wide. The company chose to adopt the technologies after an
extensive pilot-testing program with several dozen drivers, who
provided direct feedback on features, function, usability and
effectiveness. Clark added that early results with the event
recorders show that as more drivers receive coaching, the number of
safety-related events and the severity of events decline. Combined
with other fuel-saving initiatives, the on-board performance
management system is expected to gradually improve fuel economy by
as much as 4 percent as drivers learn and apply its coaching
features. On an annual basis, a 4 percent improvement would reduce
diesel fuel use by 3.6 million gallons, eliminating 80 million
pounds of CO2 emissions.
Concluded Con-way Freight's Clark: "We find that time and again
our investments in tested and proven safety technologies provide
measurable payback, not just in reduced operating costs, but in
significantly improved safety performance. Our drivers, the roads
we share with the motoring public and the freight we carry are
safer because of it. And that's our top priority."
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Con-way equipment images are available at
www.con-way.com/en/about_con_way/newsroom
About Con-way Freight
Con-way Freight is the
industry's leading less-than-truckload (LTL) freight transportation
company, providing guaranteed, day-definite regional and
transcontinental service with exception-free delivery, on-time
service performance and faster transit times through a single,
unified network of 425 operating locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto
Rico. Con-way Freight offers LTL freight transportation
across North America and through
Global LTL™ delivery in the
United States from around the world. Global solutions
include international less-than-container load (LCL) ocean
shipments from Asia through its
OceanGuaranteed® service; direct service to more than 30
Bahamian and Caribbean ports
through TropicalDirectSM; and domestic offshore
transportation to Alaska,
Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Based in Ann Arbor, Mich., Con-way Freight is a
certified FAST highway carrier and is C-TPAT/PIP-, ACE- and
CSA-certified.
Con-way Freight is a subsidiary of Con-way Inc. (NYSE: CNW), a
$5.5 billion diversified freight
transportation and logistics services company. For more
information, visit www.con-way.com/en/freight.
To view the multimedia assets associated with this release,
please click:
http://www.multivu.com/mnr/65215-con-way-freight-drive-safe-systems-in-cab-monitor-sense-and-alert
SOURCE Con-way Freight