Survey: small businesses seek solutions for truck fleet safety, costs

Small and medium businesses (SMBs) with trucking fleets say their top four concerns are building effective safety programs, creating cost-saving initiatives, reducing road risks, and ensuring driver safety, according to a survey from Netradyne, a provider of safety and driver coaching systems for commercial fleets.

San Diego-based Netradyne surveyed 503 decision-makers of SMBs with fewer than 1,000 employees and commercial fleets consisting of five or more vehicles. The online survey was conducted by Atomik Research from September 21-28.

The results showed that safety is a top goal but can be tough to deliver, as 95% claimed to trust their drivers, but 56% also believed their drivers unintentionally engage in risky behaviors on the road. Additional dangers lurk outside the truck itself, as 77% consider smartphone usage on the road by other drivers to be a threat to their own drivers.

The survey also found that small fleets are under big economic pressure, with 96% indicating some concern about securing financing to expand their fleet, including 36% who were extremely concerned. And 63% claimed that losing just one vehicle in their fleet would be financially devastating.

Additional business pressure comes from fuel prices, with 100% of SMB decision-makers surveyed expressing interest in technology that can save on fuel costs. But they’re not sure how to obtain that technology, with 49% saying they have run out of ideas to reduce fuel costs.

Netradyne says that its software as a service (SaaS)-based products can address those challenges through artificial intelligence (AI) and edge computing approaches to safety and driver coaching for commercial fleets.