Many people who have a basic knowledge of vehicle tracking systems are usually most familiar with real time GPS tracking units. Those who place these electronic gadgets on vehicles are able to “see” from a remote computer or a smartphone where that asset is and where it is heading, with a position update every few seconds or minutes.
All well and good, but the real-time vehicle tracking system should not overshadow the value of a passive GPS tracking device, which has excellent applications in its own right. Among the top uses are for fleet management and accident investigations.
A passive GPS tracking system stores data on vehicle location within the unit. The tracking system is later retrieved for later download. A quality-made passive GPS vehicle tracking device like LandAirSea Systems’ GPS Tracking Key and GPS Tracking Key Pro have extensive memory. Up to 100 hours of movement are recorded, and even then, it doesn’t stop working. The memory chip works “first in, first out” with data, meaning once capacity is met, the newest driving data will replace the oldest.
On-the-road incidents involving law enforcement, including moving violations (tickets) and accidents are very serious business. Since they involve legal and sometimes medical issues, they can be long, drawn-out affairs. Vehicle tracking systems are great for referencing facts, rather than relying solely on memory, witnesses, or the hand-written notes of a police officer.
Passive vehicle tracking devices record speed, direction, time and date, location by latitude and longitude or street address, duration of trips and miles logged. Better vehicle tracking devices such as the GPS Tracking Key and GPS Tracking Key Pro will give position updates in one-second increments, so there are almost no detectible gaps in coverage.
Memories fade over time and witnesses are not always reliable, but a GPS vehicle tracking report is accurate and detailed. The data will be as clear a year or two after the road incident as it is the day of the occurrence.
LandAirSea analysts recently pulled news reports from two accidents. Consider how a vehicle tracking system helped – or would have helped – in the investigations:
Vehicle Tracking System Verifies Bogus Insurance Claim
The fleet management supervisor of a HVAC company in Sidmouth, Devon, UK referred to a service van’s on-board vehicle tracking system after one of his drivers was blamed for a minor vehicle accident. The “victim” claimed a serviceman was speeding and sideswiped him on a country road. A side view mirror was torn off and the matter went to insurance claim.
The fleet management supervisor tracked the claimant’s time, date and location of the accident and found the identity of the employee allegedly responsible for the mishap. The engineer claimed he had pulled over the vehicle and the other car clipped him while passing.
The company, called Ford’s, installed passive vehicle tracking systems on all its fleet vehicles about three years ago to track work orders and analyze employee schedules for inefficiencies. The tracking system records exact position, time, date and speed of vehicles. The vehicle tracking report revealed, in no uncertain terms, that the service vehicle at the time of the accident was not speeding; it was not moving at all.
Ford’s fleet management supervisor Tim Ford explained that often, when a member of the public gets involved in a minor accident, they find an easily-identifiable vehicle in the vicinity at the time and record contact information from its exterior advertising, then blame its driver for the unfortunate encounter.
“We were thrilled to have the evidence available, with just a few keystrokes,” said Ford. “Confronted with the report, the other driver backed down.”
Stunt Woman Dies in Crash on Way to Filming
Hollywood stunt woman April Erin Stirton met a tragic and ironic fate April 6, 2010 when she died in an accident on Highway 101 near the Laurel Canyon exit. California Highway Patrol investigators believe the 28-year-old, riding her motorcycle to a performing job, was speeding and tried to pass a tow truck. Witnesses said she lost control of the bike and skidded. Both she and the motorcycle got lodged under the rear wheels of another truck, police said.
Stirton, who lived in North Hollywood and had worked on shows like “CSI and “True Blood” was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.
Was this woman, clearly skilled at driving in dangerous situations due to her career, over-confident or distracted? She did not survive to tell her side of the story. Could a vehicle tracking system on the motorcycle have recorded evidence that another driver was to blame?
Much time and money can be saved when a driver involved in a dispute has access to an extensive vehicle tracking report on the incident in question. Fleet management directors, parents of teen drivers, self-employed business people and many others use vehicle tracking as a means of protecting their families and businesses from liability and harm.
Sources: Materials Handling World , Los Angeles Times
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Tags: affairs, Devon, Driving Incidents, evidence, ford, GPS Tracking, insurance, officer, Police, Sidmouth, smartphone, Tracking System, victim
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