Our vehicles have now become extremely feature-packed. Not only are we playing multimedia on the go, but we have the liberty to even doze off while putting your vehicle on autopilot. However, that’s not the one recommendation you should be taking away from here right now.
What you should be taking away is just how amazing dash cams are and why you shouldn’t delay getting one for your vehicle. For those of you are not entirely sure what a dash cam is, here’s a short yet crisp overview.
Dash cam is short for Dashboard Cameras. These are exactly what the name suggests. These rest on the dashboard of your vehicle and video record the outside of the car.
Dual camera dash cams can record the inside of the vehicles as well. Pretty cool, right?
But are they really helpful or have they become famous just because it sounds cool and lets you record the road trip you took last summer? Spoiler alert!
The List Of Benefits That Come With Dash Cams
They are extremely helpful in a lot of ways. In fact, they can even help you reduce your costs to a great extent, which is contrary to the usual belief that dash cams are not an investment.
1. Recorded Proof of Accidents
More than 30,000 road accidents take place in the US alone. While this sounds awful, what’s unfortunate is that many people are unable to show valid proof that they weren’t at fault, and many others are denied their claim by insurance agencies.
It’s not just bad news for the claimers but also the issuers. Insurance fraud is one of the major losses an insurance firm incurs in the course of its time.
To do good to both parties, dash cams provide enough proof to get through the claims easily. In a lot of cases, you even get a discount on your insurance premium if you install a dash cam. Looks like the installation cost is already partially recovered.
For fleet drivers, who have a generic image of rash driving and carelessness, it becomes extremely important to show proof of innocence and save yourself as a fleet manager from crash for cash schemes, which are orchestrated for the very purpose of earning unethically.
2. Reduce your Vehicle Deterioration
Most car owners maintain their car with the love and affection they would give their pet. Regular servicing and top-notch maintenance, but can you say the same for drivers? Not really.
They can tend to be a bit careless, and given the nature of the journey of fleet drivers, long and tiring, blaming them outright would be very brutal. With the help of a fleet dash cam, a fleet manager will be able to regularly monitor the driving pattern of their drivers like sudden braking, a close call with another vehicle or object on the road, distractions during driving, etc.
This job is made much easier with the help of Artificial Intelligence. With Industrial IoT on the high rise, AI dash cams are the new cool, and the one by Samsara boasts features real-time driver assistance with built-in speakers and live scene analysis, which makes things way more convenient.
This might not result in direct cost reductions, but indirect cost reductions in the maintenance of the fleet and the cost that would incur due to accidents will be greatly reduced as you can prevent them from happening in the first place.
3. Reduce Fuel Costs
Most dash cams come with a pre-installed GPS, and that makes navigation much easier. The majority of the fleet managers believe that they can increase profits by reducing fuel costs. The major factors that are contributing to fuel costs are long routes, long idling time, and rash driving.
All of these causes can be monitored with the help of dash cams and be regulated. You will also be in a better position to figure out which one of these causes is affecting your fleet the most and should be reduced.
You will also be able to improve your driver’s behavior by imparting the necessary training based on their driving patterns. Also, when they are aware that they are being filmed, the chances of them taking steps that can put them or anyone else in harm’s way are greatly reduced.
4. Responsible Reporting
Everybody’s collaboration on the road contributes to everyone’s road safety. Even if a few people decide to break that chain, the results are catastrophic.
How many times have you come across a rash driver who whizzed past you without the care in the world about those around him and how badly it could affect someone’s life?
Did you report on them? Probably not because even if you wanted to, the sheer speed of their vehicle would have left you clueless about the make, model, or, more importantly, the plate number of the vehicle, which is most important for tracing the driver.
With a dash cam, you can capture all of that and be able to report on them. Not only are you helping yourself, but you are helping the whole society be safe. Some ways can assist you in reporting so that the road is a safer place.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has taken the initiative of enforcing a safety compliance program known as Compliance, Safety, Accountability(CSA), which holds the drivers and the motor carriers accountable for their role on the road. With a dash cam, you will be in a much better position to deal with any scenario of the CSA program if it arises.
Conclusion
These benefits are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to leveraging technology to not only make your life easier but also reduce costs in the longer run. Skepticism is bound to be a barrier when it comes to investing in technology that is not very clearly understood, but that shouldn’t be the case with dash cams, and this should help you get a clearer picture of how much it helps you.
So, the one final takeaway in the shortest way possible is, get a dash cam for all your vehicles. It’s a worthy investment.
