Evaluation of an Onboard Safety Monitoring Device in Commercial Vehicle Operations

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) funded this project to provide an independent evaluation of DriveCam’s low-cost Driving Behavior Management System (DBMS). Participating drivers drove an instrumented vehicle for 17 consecutive weeks while they made their normal, revenue-producing deliveries. During the 4-week Baseline phase, the event recorder recorded safety-related events. However, the feedback light on the event recorder was disabled and safety managers did not have access to the recorded critical incidents to provide feedback to drivers. During the 13-week Intervention phase, the feedback light on the event recorder was activated and safety managers had access to the recorded safety-related events (following the coaching protocol with drivers). Carrier A significantly reduced the mean frequency of recorded events/miles traveled from Baseline to Intervention by 37 percent (p = 0.049), while Carrier B significantly reduced the mean frequency of recorded events/miles traveled from Baseline to Intervention by 52.2 percent (p = 0.03). The results suggest the combination of onboard safety monitoring and behavioral coaching were responsible for the reduction in mean frequency of events/miles traveled at Carriers A and