GPS Tracking Reduces Plowing Complaints
United Kingdom ‘Gritters’ Tired of Being Patsies
Tired of being the pasty for poor drivers year after year, Derbyshire, a city in the United Kingdom, is fighting back this winter with GPS tracking.
Every time it snows, citizens caught in fender-benders point fingers of blame at one the city’s 140 snow plow/salt truck drivers, claiming they are doing a poor job of road maintenance.
“Across the pond,” the chore of salting or sanding roads with trucks is called “gritting” with “lorries.” And in that particular town, the gritters are getting a bit grumpy.
It doesn’t snow much in the U.K., so when it does happen, claims pile up about the city failing to clear roads adequately. Before vehicle tracking, the city council had no real way of telling which complaints were valid and which were just attempts to shift blame.
That will change this snow season, as all 47 of the council’s front-line gritting vehicles will be equipped with GPS vehicle tracking systems.
The Derby City Council will address constituent complaints and determine the seriousness of the problem, once it starts seeing the results of a vehicle tracking system, purchased through a local vendor.
In earlier winters, government officials had a hard time determining the credibility of complaints because they had little information about their trucks on the street, or the performance of their drivers. To find out where and when a road was gritted, they relied on radio communication, hand-written reports and the recollection of drivers.
There are 3,300 miles of roads in Derbyshire. City crews make a special effort to clear about half of them: First primary and secondary roads, then roads with steep grades, sharp turns or drainage problems, and finally, roads supporting buildings that house the elderly, physically handicapped or children.
The new vehicle tracking system will allow a shift supervisor at the main storm center to monitor the whereabouts of every truck, receiving GPS tracking coordinates every few seconds. The driver’s GPS tracking location, speed and direction will be shown on a central computer system. The GPS tracking system will help municipal officials quickly find a plow and reassign it when there is a traffic emergency. Aided by interface with the vehicle’s main electronics and computer systems, supervisors will keep track of salt and sand levels, mileage and fuel efficiency.
The drivers will be able to communicate with the center and with each other. And finally, the GPS tracking system will record a detailed log of all plowing and sanding activities in the city. When an inquiry comes in to the department about a specific patch of road, a manager can reference the trip history and determine how many trucks were in the area, when they were working the streets and how much material was applied to the street surface.
The GPS tracking system will also log employee hours and overtime for payroll. On hazardous and stormy nights, some plow drivers put in 14-hour days.
Derbyshire officials say time and money prevent them from gritting every residential road in the city. It takes the crew four hours to salt the main roads alone.
It offers the following winter weather driving tips to citizens and motorists.
1. Stay off the road when possible. If travel is imperative, slow down. Brake and turn slowly.
2. Remember: Safety in numbers. Take someone with you on your trip. Car pool to work.
3. Give your vehicle a once-over before you leave. Check wipers, headlights, heat and fuel levels.
4. Pack a winter survival kit including flashlight, shovel, blanket, high-protein snacks and bottled water.
5. Use your own GPS tracking system. If you become lost or your vehicle is stranded, authorities or your loved ones will be able to find you based on your GPS tracking coordinates.
LandAirSea Furnishes Plow Companies
LandAirSea Systems, a leading manufacturer and provider of passive and real-time vehicle tracking systems and accessories, sells the Victoria GPS Tracking System for fleet management. Snow plowing supervisors will get GPS position updates every 10-seconds with the Victoria tracking system.
Source: M2M Magazine
Tags: complaints, Derbyshire, headlights, payroll, plowing, winter
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