Vehicle Overspeeds - Tracked Vehicles

Dylan Harris

Kia Ora team

Looking for some discussion around how people handle overspeeds and at what point it becomes a HR matter.

The Org i work for has vehicle monitoring through smartrack, that measures speed, GPS and has impact alerts, braking alerts and the like. this is fairly well accepted by the teams, however we are still seeing a steady increase in overspeeds around the Waikato, some exceeding 10+km for longer than 3-5min

Recently we have started to review our vehicle policies and processes for Overspeed's and i am curious to see how other organisations are approaching behaviour management around overspeed's

Currently our fleet team will collate the information once a month filter those with overspeeds above a threshold of 5km then see if its a one off or repeated practice across the day. if there is a concern or large overspeed / pattern they email the info to the manager to have a discussion.

Some managers have then turned to HR to support letters of expectations or disciplinary and found that as there is no clear "if above 10km then a first warning type deal" HR are a bit stuck to support disciplinaries (thus the review and fleet wanting to put in some more detail)

Some of the current thinking
If 1-10km over the limit (100-110) email of expectation
If 10-20 over limit in area - HR discussion with manager - letter of expectation/warning if repeat
Over 20km - HR discussion and potential written warning (TBC).

Naturally its a topic of debate on why we speed in the first place (overtaking, roadworks etc etc) but interested if anyones policy has had a good impact and how they tackled the different speed limits?

View Answer

Heinrich Havemann

Your thinking is sensible in your suggestions. However very lenient. 20 Kmh over the speed limit is excessive and reckless. What is the leniency that the NZ police allow? You will need to be clear that overtaking is not an excuse to speed, and road works are not. If this is not clear you will have endless excuses and will not move forward.The law is the law, and overspeed is overspeed. Good luck!

Denise

As driving is recognised as a critical risk for our company, the company has set tolerances and times in the monitoring system when speed exceedance meet 'monitored' status e.g. zero tolerance at Roadworks and zero tolerance at schools between 8.30am -9.30 am and 2.45 pm to 3.30 pm and then based on posted speed limits and >specified speed for >specified time over max defined distance.

Drivers whose driving speeds repeatedly exceed the tolerances become 'monitored' drivers. They are placed in a monitoring register for one month and are provided additional monitoring to help them manage this hazard. If no further overspeed events occur for 1 month the driver's vehicle is removed from the register. Overspeed reports provided by the monitoring system are provided to Managers daily for drivers in their area of responsibility.

For 'monitored' drivers, the Manager is responsible for verifying the driver, advising the driver of the overspeed, undertaking a staysafe engagement for the first overspeed and then there is an escalating response for further overspeeds e.g. confirming they were the driver, undertaking a staysafe engagement and raising a hazard report. Subsequent overspeed events are reported with an incident report and investigation. An overspeed in the monitoring period after an incident report and investigation is escalated to HR/Exec team before assigning actions. Owners are assigned for each part of the process and company overspeed targets and expectations have been set e.g. 100% tagged drivers have staysafe engagement etc.

We seem to be getting the necessary focus and improvements with this process.

Kate Thompson

Speeding is often not just the driver's fault. If you have people who put unrealistic time pressures on the drivers, then they are a contributor to the problem. We put a few staff through an online speed awareness course (https://www.drivingtests.co.nz/course/speeding-course/) as well as enforcing speed limits through Eroad. Once they understood what contributes to their speeding, they didn't have such sour faces. Also, 1-5km/h over the limit, we don't care about. We don't want drivers constantly looking at the speedo as that's counter productive. We also don't want drivers holding up a safe flow of traffic in good weather as that just annoys other drivers and makes them tailgate our drivers or try to overtake in stupid places, which is also a danger. So, we'll take 53 in a 50; anyway, we tend to see speed fluctuate up and down due to hills, traffic flow, etc. When you're driving in Auckland, mostly you're not able to do 50 for long because of the lights/roundabouts, etc. I'd prefer they are looking 10 seconds ahead than being fixated on the speedo. That way, they're not going to run into the back of someone else.

Mike Massaar

We also use Smartrak and have a detailed policy agreed to with the union on consequences through to HR disciplinary actions for serious or repeating occurrences. I've sent you a message with my email address. If you could email me then I can send to you.

Keith Cresswell

Hi all
12 months ago when I joined the company we had a real problem with speeding over 100kph across our fleet of approx 150 vehicles comprising 50% heavy vehicles and 50% utilities.
I started a weekly report of drivers exceeding the limit to their managers. They discussed the incident with their workers and gave a letter of expectation to comply with the speed limits.
Initially we didn't notice a lot of change but as the discussions became more frequent and the expectation that we obey the open road limits and if that means we take a little longer to complete the job so be it.
There were multiple repeat offenders 12 months ago now it is rare to see the same driver two weeks in a row, also the high speeds have dropped considerably.
I doubt we will ever achieve complete compliance but the dynamic has changed for the better.
We review speeding below 100kph by complaint or incident report due to the possible inaccuracy of crowd sourced speed limits

Rather than focus on rules to enforce behavior we are trying to change the belief system that says it is OK to speed by showing the consequences of an accident at toolbox meetings, sharing personal stories from the team and attempting to show that it is OK to take as long as it takes to drive somewhere, we also had the CVIU police unit attend a toolbox which was very successful

Andrew

Speed isn't the issue. But it is a nice distraction and keeps lots of people happily employed.

The issue is failing to drive to the conditions.

But back to the OP.

There is no point at all having rules / standards if they are not complied with. And if there is non-compliance there needs to be a consequence. If there isn't then you are simply condoning the non compliance.

Obeying the posted speed limit seems to be the most basic standard. There is no excuse for exceeding it. So, anyone who does needs to be managed. HR should assist with this - dont let them whimp out. Assure them their DEI policy development isnt that important.

I'm not in favour of any tolerance (eg over 5kph). Standards are standards. Set them. manage them.
- use discretion on what is managed on a case by case basis
- be open to any mitigating reasons that supports an argument 5kph over the limit isnt the crime of the century.

(and its not just about safety. Its also about excessive wear and tear on the vehicle along with excess fuel consumption. There is also company reputation damage risk .

And what's wrong with setting the cruise control?

Matthew Bennett

@Andrew - you've made some relevant points, however your opening sentence has to be challenged. Speed IS an issue. It's physics: Force = Mass * Acceleration. Specifically, the amount of force in a crash (which is a key determinate of the degree of harm that occurs) is the result of the size of the Vehicle(s) & load, and change in speed over time - braking distance.
- Speed is also a determinate of time to react.
- so yeah, speed is a huge issue. As is following distance, and choice of vehicle. Your point that 'driving to the conditions' does have relevance. All the factors other than speed are challenging to quantify though.

Andrew

↪Matthew Bennett

Since its Friday, I'll give you another concept and formula.

Its not about speed. Its all about stopping.

Stopping distance = Thinking Distance + Braking Distance

where Braking distance (D) = v^2 / (2ug) (v = velocity, u is the coefficient of friction and g is thee acceleration due to to gravity

So you are talking about a crash. its a bit late then. Much more important to think about stopping before you crash

And the pedant in me reckons speed isn't the determinant of time to react. Distance is..

This is why we thing about things like driver fatigue, wear on tyres, sunlight. All unrelated to speed. Until you need to stop.

Tamsin Sutherland

We use 10km and 20km excess of speed limit as 2 different triggers.
Discretion is 5 seconds entering a lower speed limit. Reports are done monthly - one month = 1 record, records kept for 6 months.
10km over - reported to line manager who meets with staff member. 3 records is a referral to HR.
20km over - report to line manager and general manager, 2 records is referred to HR.
140km/hr is gross misconduct (we've never had this, but managers wanted a top number in).
We've been doing this for 12 months now and it has significantly changed driver behaviour.

Candis Hawkins

A collective look at overspeed's as a driver workforce, not singling out drivers in particular was shared weekly over 2 years' worth of time. (This has fallen off radar now, although used as a tool when overspeed's were appearing norm). This approach, collective address and visual sharing of all data transparent across team dramatically improved over speeds. In a Safety 2 mindset, (and my current org.) letters of expectation are rare if at all. Give people the freedom to do the right thing because they want to, because they are trusted to. It would have to be some extreme purposeful violation of an overspeed to have anywhere near a letter of expectation as a tool to get overspeed's under control IMO, although that's all the org. stuff of culture and what not if that could be the right approach for your org.

Wayne Nicholl

↪Dylan Harris

Gosh this one is a goodie. I have worked for some different companies that have taken quite different approaches. One company's Board of Directors could not and would not condone speeding of any type and it was very difficult for the managers to manage when one of their staff went over the speed limit - even by 5km/h. Others have taken a more pragmatic approach and set triggers and dealt with serious breaches. There are some fantastic methods of monitoring out there that now show the footage. The footage shows the 'what happened' and 'why' quite clearly. I think the company's that use this information for coaching and changing behaviors - rather than straight to discipline will do well. Harsh breaking for example could come about for a number of reasons and there are times where you wouldn't want to discourage that. I have a device in my car that annoys me, but it has changed my behaviors when I drive. But there have been times when someone brakes suddenly in front and I need to do the same - does that mean I have broken a rule?? The way I look at the information now is on two fronts - what can i use to proactively coach people, and what was serious that could have resulted in serious harm. The important part is the procedures and triggers you set up. Change happened for us when I started to report the data we were getting monthly. Once it is visible and measured - things will happen. What you can't do is collect data and do nothing with it!!

Dylan Harris

Thanks Everyone for that! definitely a discussion around changing behaviours and staying alert! appreciate all your comments!

Peter Bateman

This recent news story in Stuff reminded me of this thread for some reason. I wonder what framework Environment Canterbury uses for speeding infractions picked up by its vehicle monitoring?

Matthew Bennett

All vehicles (were) fitted / tracked with Smartrak. The RNZ article states "The council's policy indicated anything in excess of 15km/h above the speed limit was considered excessive". In the article is a graph RNZ Article that shows they have 3 'categories' of over-speeding, so fair to assume they're monitoring frequency and seriousness. Then it's a question of what actions are triggered at what point.

Te Roopu Marutau

Overspeed is illegal, it's not a suggested target but a limit. Each instance is an offence.
Big sticks change behavior... or so it seems, but it only changes the perception of fair treatment... there will be resentment especially if tracked vehicles are only applied to a demographic within your organisation.
Allow staff to determine initial parameters, to work within them and to be subject to them (disciplinary process) with the objective of getting "them" home safely at the end of the day. Further tighten the parameters in time and reward positive change (not expected behavior).
Make sure everyone in the organisation is subject (the boss is not exempt!)

Wayne

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