Installing vehicle CCTV and telematics can reduce your fleet insurance premiums.

Reducing your fleet insurance premiums has got to be a good thing. VSS works with several independent commercial insurance brokers specialising in truck, bus and coach insurances. They’re able to offer our customers competitive premiums which can be reduced over time with the introduction of vehicle CCTV and vehicle Telematics solutions. The only exception to this could be if you’re currently insured under an exclusive broker scheme.

Our insurance partners have clients throughout the UK and provide a highly personal and professional service envied by their competitors. They hold agencies with most of the leading insurance companies throughout the UK.

Vehicle CCTV prevents against theft and vandalism. Last year there was 55,000 cash for crash schemes in the UK costing fleet insurance companies £240M. Vehicle cameras help in the protection for the drivers and passengers against fraudulent Insurance claims. Installing GPS tracking and telematics can also determine the precise location of any vehicle at any time, helping our clients achieve fleet insurance discounts.

Commercial vehicles account for less than 1.7% of vehicles on the road but account for 18% of crashes. Fleet insurance companies are keen to work with our clients to help counteract this by vehicle CCTV installation. On average, these insurance companies have seen a 40% reduction in accident claims with commercial vehicles fitted with vehicle CCTV.

Vehicle CCTV can also improve driver best practice, efficiencies, productivity and safety. By working with your fleet insurance company, these efficiencies will ultimately save your business money.

The Benefits of having CCTV
Thanks to the rise in awareness of carbon emissions, many more people are now opting for public transport over driving their own vehicles. Great for the environment, great for coach and bus companies. However, operating large vehicles filled with people is no easy feat. They require extraordinary amounts of skill and concentration and unfortunately, high numbers of passengers can be distracting.

Having CCTV installed on buses and coaches will not only allow the driver to see what is going on while they are trying to navigate busy streets, but it will also protect them, the company and of course, the passengers. CCTV is the easiest way to do this, as they are easy to install and simple to operate and retrieve the footage if needed. This is good news for bus companies as it can be used as evidence in case any accusations are made against the company.

It can also help protect the passengers, by monitoring the drivers to see if they’re behaving appropriately, driving safely and generally not putting anyone at risk. Improving the quality of drivers often means that insurance costs are cheaper. You can also rest easy knowing that your drivers are aware that they’re being watched so will on their best behaviour. It will also reassure passengers that your coach or bus is a reliable and safe method of transportation due to the increased security.

In a world of constant surveillance, people are worried about becoming a ‘Big Brother’ state. However, many of these people are also heavily reliant on CCTV footage to protect them. In inner cities, where surveillance is high, people feel safer because they know should anything happen, there is video evidence of it somewhere. Unfortunately, people don’t always get the same feeling when on public transport, and as such avoid using it. With CCTV installed in your buses or coaches your clients can travel safely in the knowledge that should anything happen they will be covered by the evidence.

VSS903 – Four Channel Hard Drive MDVR

CCTV can also act as a deterrent. A lot of vandalism or anti-social behaviour takes place on board large public vehicles because the driver often cannot put a stop to it as they need to focus on driving. It can be hard to keep track of a full coach of people as well as trying to steer a vehicle that size. Having CCTV in place can prevent people from vandalising or stealing if they know they’re being watched. It can give you and your drivers’ peace of mind when travelling because they know that they don’t have to be aware of every passenger on the bus and can remain focused on the job at hand.

Most CCTV equipment comes with GPS tracking inbuilt, so you can monitor every vehicles’ precise location at any time. This can come in handy for auditing, insurance claims or claims against the company. By being able to monitor the location and movements of your buses, you can make sure that all vehicles are doing what they’re supposed to. It can increase efficiency and productivity because you will be able to see what each coach or bus does with its time.

Buss and coach tamper proof cameras

A large percentage of speeding incidents can be avoided if the driver is aware they are being watched, and having CCTV on board your vehicles can reduce insurance by up to a significant percentage. Commercial vehicles make up a small percentage of vehicles on the road at just 1.7%, but these same vehicles account for 18% of accidents. These numbers can be reduced with the installation of CCTV, because everyone is more aware that they are being watched and therefore likely to behave with more caution. It can also reduce the number of false claims made against your company or your drivers – as there will be video evidence to back your company up.

Nearly every public place in the UK now has CCTV, why should a bus or coach be any different?
Contact us now at Vehicle Security Solutions on 01562 544108 to discuss your vehicle CCTV requirements and obtain a free quote or email us at:- info@vehiclesecuritysolutions.co.uk.

As I look through my living room window in the aftermath of a ‘Tornado’ hitting our village, I begin to assess the costs of this natural disaster and how it will affect the local community as a whole. Insurance companies telephone lines will be ‘red hot’ today.

You see, unfortunate events like this affect us all. Personally, we came away relatively unscathed with regards to actual damage, however, with insurance claims being submitted by those directly affected over the next few days, the costs of insurance premiums in our postcode will rise.

I can accept this, as there was nothing anyone could have done. It was no one’s fault, we all bore witness to what this storm threw down at us. It was a natural phenomenon. You try taking Mother Nature to court to sue for damages. You can’t. It’s just one of those things.

Estimated wind speeds last night were around 72mph. I’ve checked the internet and found that on the Beaufort scale which rates ranks wind speeds from scale 1-12, we were hit hard.

There was no warning system to tell us otherwise. We couldn’t have slowed the wind down to be less destructive, therefore resulting in less or no damage and ultimately no insurance claims and premium hikes!

Where am I going with this story you might wonder and what relevance does this have to the transport industry? I’ll tell you.

Driving Responsibly?

I work in the world of vehicle CCTV and Telematics and recently visited a prospect who had enquired about such systems. They’d recently been sent their new annual insurance premium which had gone up an incredible £60,000 across their fleet of twenty passenger service vehicles!

When I questioned why the huge rise, they told me that one of their vehicles was written off last year after it braked hard, skidded off the road and veered off into a ditch. Fortunately, no one else was onboard the vehicle which was on its way back to the depot and the driver was lucky to have walked away with minor injuries.

After a short investigation, the incident was put down to poor driver behaviour. The driver used their mobile phone whilst speeding. The driver got fired! Could this have been prevented? Yes.

On another visit last year, this time to a haulage firm, they were faced with a similar hike in their insurance premiums due to one of their vehicles being involved in an RTA. This turned out to be a crash for cash incident with five occupants of the car involved (three of these were ‘ghost riders’ as the truck driver said there were only two passengers in the vehicle at the time). Could this have been prevented? Maybe, if you had a reliable witness.

There were 180,000 incidents involving cash for crash scams in the UK between June 2015-16.

I hear these stories all the time. But what can be done to eradicate poor driver behaviour? How can we prove who was at fault? How can we prevent drivers speeding? How can we stop insurance premiums rising against us when we’re not in the wrong? What steps can we take to stop this?

FORS can help towards safety on the roads

The aim of FORS is simple. One comprehensive scheme that encompasses all aspects of safety, fuel efficiency, economical operations and vehicle emissions. FORS is a voluntary scheme that helps improve operators’ performance in each of these areas. And it’s the safety part of the scheme we’ll concentrate on here.

The need to install additional safety equipment such as CCTV and Telematics on your vehicles is growing. For example, to meet Transport for London (TFL) requirements and to be eligible for business deals within London, as well as infrastructure plans such as Cross Rail, you must fulfil the requirements of the Fleet Operators Recognition Scheme (FORS). And having vehicle CCTV and using Telematics systems really does help towards aspects of safety.

For vehicle operators, it offers peace of mind that they are meeting their legislative requirements. Banded as Gold, Silver and Bronze accreditations, each one carries its own merits. It is an excellent way to prove to existing and potential clients your credentials as a high performing operator who adheres to high quality standards.

Bronze is entry level accreditation but gaining Silver endorsement, shows you’re dramatically improving the overall safety of operator’s fleet vehicles which in turn ensures compliance with the Standard for construction logistics

What kind of Technology can help?

Vehicle CCTV is paramount in today’s battle against fraudulent accident claims and has ultimately improved the overall claims experience in the industry. What’s more, with GPS tracking, you’re able to view footage in sync with a map showing the location and speed of the vehicle.

A major benefit of having vehicle CCTV is that it improves vehicle safety and security and encourages best practice amongst drivers.

Telematics devices are generally systems that are installed in your vehicle that records information about your driving habits, such as the number of miles you drive, your speed, and how quickly you brake. Studies have shown that a 5% decrease in average speed leads to approximately a 10% decrease in injury and 20% decrease in fatal crashes (2014, U.S Dept of Transportation).

Based on a telematics data base research in the UK, an incredible 92% of speeding incidences can be avoided by an installed telematics system.

These systems can quite often be integrated into a vehicle CCTV device, so gives you the best of both worlds.

Roads are getting more congested, in fact Motor vehicle traffic in Great Britain increased by 2.3% in the year ending June 2015 from the previous year. The provisional figure of 314.6 billion vehicle miles is the highest rolling annual total ever! (National statistics).

We need all the help we can get out there and the aforementioned systems will not only help your drivers be safer on the roads and curtail the fraudulent accident claims but will protect and enhance your reputation.

So unlike the Tornado tale mentioned earlier, which was unavoidable, WE can put at stop to poor driver behaviour and fraudulent accident claims by installing such systems mentioned above. Can you afford to be without it?