Vehicle Telematics: A Guide for Educational Institutions
While it may sound like newfangled science, the U.S. has used telematics since the 1960s to track the movements of defense assets and improve military communication. Today, all types of organizations, from small businesses to large corporations and nonprofits, employ telematic systems for real-time monitoring and management of their vehicle fleets and the people driving them.
Over the past decade, school districts nationwide have been hopping on board the telematics movement. While initial adopters of the technology considered it a “nice to have” on school buses, telematics is now predominantly viewed as a “must have” to ensure safer, more efficient student transportation. As the benefits of using telematics have been continuously proven, many educational institutions are implementing these systems across all their school-owned vehicles, from maintenance trucks to athletics vans and campus safety shuttles.
Should your school be employing this technology in its vehicles as well? The AssuredPartners Education Practice Group knows it might be overwhelming to consider a widespread vehicle telematics program and the potential investment of time and resources this undertaking might require. To facilitate your decision-making process, we’re providing some general information about these systems, including their key components, how they work, and the value they offer. In addition, if you decide to go the route of telematics, we share tips that might help streamline program implementation.
What Is a Telematics System?
Vehicle telematics combines telecommunications, which is the transmission of data via phone lines, cables, and the internet, with informatics, which is the analysis of data using computers. These integrated systems can be powerful and instructive tracking tools for schools, helping them better understand vehicle and driver performance and enabling a fact-based, data-driven approach to improving transportation safety and efficiency.
How Do Vehicle Telematics Systems Work?
While there is some variation in installation requirements and capabilities among the different types of vehicle telematics systems, they always have two key components: hardware and software.
Telematics hardware is the muscle of the operation, comprised of the in-vehicle physical equipment that will be used for data collection. This typically includes GPS receivers, dashboard cameras, accelerometers, communication buzzers, and electronic logging devices. The brain of the operation is the telematics software, which analyzes and interprets data collected by the hardware.
Together, the components of a vehicle telematics system enable a wide variety of actions that support safer, more efficient operations and risk mitigation. Specifically, an educational institution can use telematics to:
- Capture the real-time location of their vehicles, tracking everything from arrival and departure times to route compliance.
- Monitor and proactively address vehicle maintenance needs, including engine and battery health, fuel usage, and tire pressure.
- Gain insights into driving habits that may inform training programs, individual coaching sessions, or a safe driver rewards system.
- Identify and coach drivers on risky practices, like speeding, harsh braking, hard turns, and idling, before they lead to an incident.
- Instantly communicate with drivers and respond with important alerts, recommended route changes, road emergencies, and more.
- Document incidents for insurance or legal purposes, help defend against claims, or prove compliance with transportation regulations.
- View detailed analytics that may help optimize driving routes, reduce fuel usage and maintenance costs, identify accident risk trends, and more.
Five Tips to Help Schools Roll Out a Successful Vehicle Telematics Program
Here are five preferred practices that may help schools navigate the road from initial planning to full deployment of a telematics system:
1. Engage stakeholders with diverse perspectives. For your telematics program to roll out successfully, you’re going to need buy-in across a variety of departments and support from a range of internal and external stakeholders. Involving key people from the beginning, including your transportation staff, IT team, legal counsel, HR, and risk management resource, is critical if you want to start the planning process off on the right foot. Early engagement with stakeholders also ensures that everyone understands the important roles and responsibilities they will have as the telematics program takes shape.
2. Thoroughly vet telematics vendors and their products. Arguably, the most important criteria to include in your evaluation are a vendor’s track record and proven success partnering with other educational institutions. Other areas to examine as you put together a short list of potential vendors include:
- How turnkey is their hardware installation?
- How flexible and customizable is their system? For example, can it evolve as your institution’s needs change and expand?
- Are there software integration capabilities? For example, can their system integrate with student-tracking systems, such as RFID cards?
- What are their data security practices, and are they in compliance with relevant privacy laws?
- What are their onboarding, implementation, and training services?
- Is customer support accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week?
- Are they prepared for what’s next in telematics—e.g., video telematics, weather telematics?
3. Conduct a pilot of the telematics system. Before you roll out telematics to your entire fleet, consider testing the system with a select group of vehicles and drivers. Starting small allows you to assess system functionality, gather feedback, and identify operational challenges prior to making a significant investment. Based on the pilot program results, you can make necessary adjustments without too much disruption to normal transportation operations. If your pilot program is successful, you may want to continue taking a slow and steady approach, scaling the system in phases by vehicle type or location.
4. Comprehensively train transportation staff and school administrators. A well-thought-out training program can help ensure consistent telematics usage and the integrity of the data. Consider including the following information in education materials and training classes:
- How the telematics system works.
- How telematics data will be used and accessed.
- Driver and staff responsibilities and answers to common concerns.
- Protocols for data review, incident response, and maintenance.
- Updates to transportation policies based on new telematics procedures and data privacy regulations.
5. Schedule regular data and system reviews. Telematics reports are only valuable if schools proactively use the data to improve transportation safety and efficiency. One of the best ways to ensure this happens is to make data reviews and system audits part of your team’s routine throughout the year. Consider setting up regular meetings with key stakeholders to:
- Review telematics reports for trends.
- Discuss adjustments to routes, training, or policies based on insights.
- Conduct annual audits of system usage and effectiveness.
- Ensure ongoing compliance with transportation regulations.
- Evaluate the latest telematics technologies as they become available in the school transportation market.
There are many ways our team can assist you throughout your telematics journey, from helping assess vendor agreements, particularly insurance-related requirements, to participating in data and system reviews and providing risk management guidance when concerning driving behavior or loss trends are identified. In addition, your insurance carrier may offer a discount for using telematics, so we will verify with your company their expectations and reporting requirements to make sure that the program you develop is in alignment.
We also know that prioritizing safety and efficiency in your school operations goes well beyond your school transportation system. Please contact us if you would like to leverage our knowledge and experience in a wide variety of areas, from designing safer experiential education programs to reducing property risks and safeguarding against cyber threats.
Disclaimer:
The information contained herein is offered as insurance industry guidance and provided as an overview of current market risks and available coverages and is intended for discussion purposes only. This publication is not intended to offer financial, tax, legal or client-specific insurance or risk management advice. General insurance descriptions contained herein do not include complete insurance policy definitions, terms, and/or conditions, and should not be relied on for coverage interpretation. Actual insurance policies must always be consulted for full coverage details and analysis.
Looking for more insights? Contact our Education team today.
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