Driving the GreenRoad to Safety

Technology’s solution problems

2008-12-14T11:53:59-08:00

Technology is developing fast and it is a fair question to ask if we can keep up with its development. Rapid development can provide rapid benefits; the challenge is evaluating if what we develop truly works in our favor. Throw in the mix that most new developments are driven by for-profit intentions, and we experience progress “on the fly”. We develop, experiment and evaluate our progress in real time, to keep up with the pace of the world around us and market needs.

All problems require solutions. The competition for viable solutions for existing problems is tough. There are many bright minds out there are stepping up to the challenge of solving the many problems we face. One problem great interest to me, vehicle crashes, is still in need of a global solution.

There’s an abundance of information detailing why vehicle crashes are a problem that should worry us all (loss of life and real dollars are just a few) so, I won’t repeat these facts here. Suffice it to say, that some 3,000 people die every day on the roads as a result of drivers crashing their vehicles into other vehicles or pedestrians.

Looking at the short historical development of cars it is surprising how low tech they are. Other technologies that have developed in parallel seemto progress much further over a shorter period of time. Some 100+ years into the game and the vast majority of vehicles are the same combustion engine, four tires, metal shell transport that they were when first conceived.

The average speed in London 100 years ago was 12 KM/H. It is still the same today. Back then it was due to the horse power available, and today it is because of road congestion. Leaving the cause aside, you are not getting to work any faster than you would have driving a Ford Model T. So the fact that your vehicle is shipped today with 250 bhp costs you a fortune, but doesn’t get you anywhere any faster. And if you can go faster, your chances of being involved in a crash dramatically increase. Just an example of how solving one problem (getting there faster) created many other previously non existant problems.

So here are the two challenges of technology. First, we are up against selecting the technology that would best solve the problems we face. Second, is acknowledging the fact that each new technology we introduce is embedded with new problems of tomorrow. If history has taught us anything is that today’s solutions are tomorrow’s problems.

Bringing this down to the level in which technologies will help us best solve the problem of crashes, there is a lot to be said on both selecting the right technology and the future impacts these technologies will have on our lives.

Evolution did quite an astounding piece of work bringing us to where we are today. One piece missing from evolution’s road map was planning for the situation in which humans would travel extremely faster than the speed in which their legs can carry them. We travel fast, but our sensory system, reaction and vision, are not developed for these speeds or amounts of tasks needed to keep us traveling safe at these speeds.

The technological answer to this problem is enhancing the limited abilities of the driver. Computers already intervene with our driving (brake control, skid control, etc.) and will intervene more in the future. This is all very well if it helps reduce crashes, however, studies teach us that the more comfort and safety (or perceived safety) drivers are provided by technological systems, the more risks these drivers take while driving.

Humans want to travel, and if possible, fast. We want to “get there” so once “there” we can complete whatever it was we have in mind. Humans also enjoy the thrill of the travel itself, or use the travel as a mean to express or ease their tensions and emotions (road rage, aggressive driving, stress, etc.)

We are trapped in a vicious cycle. The more technology we throw at ourselves to overcome our limitations, the more we push the envelope and challenge the abilities of these technologies to protect us.

Thus technology is part of the solution, but also of the problem.

What we need is not more technology taking responsibility off of our hands, but technology that better trains drivers and coaches them to drive within their limitations. Once drivers are aware of the risks they take, they will stop challenging their environment and learn to drive within it and within their own limitations. Drivers who are aware of the risks around them, are well trained and are focused on taking the right choices while they drive, will crash less.

Our challenge is to make sure all drivers are provided with tools enabling and empowering with: awareness to risk, good driving skills and the ability to make and take the right choices while they drive. In this format technology has a chance of being a tool training us to realize and live within our limitations instead of attempting to replace them.

Drive safely, it’s worth it,

Hod Fleishman, Founder and Chief of Safety.

Lap top driving lesson

2008-10-26T09:55:31-07:00

There are essentially two types of laptop users. I am somewhat of an expert on this matter. Much of my time is spent travelling so there is plenty of opportunity to have a look at other business travelers’ laptop screens. I know it’s peeking, but it’s pretty interesting to see what others are up to..

There is the clean and orderly type. At the top of the left hand corner your will see the “my computer” icon, followed by the “my documents” and “my networks”. The background image will display a sunset from last vacation or a photo of a happy family. This in itself is an accomplishment, because as you must know, one has to shoot around 500 images with a digital camera on vacation to be able to end up with one good photo in which everybody is smiling, nobody is making a funny face and everyone has their eyes open.

If you would spend a little bit more time looking at this person’s laptop screen you will see there may be one or two applications open at a time. That’s it. These people are focused and efficient operators. They may work on a presentation, or edit an excel sheet, and that’s about it. The strain on their laptop processor is minimal, and their brain is focused on the task at hand.

The second type of laptop user is the person with “all of my files since I had an IBM XT” kept on the desktop. 15 different applications are open at the same time. Windows keep on opening and closing, and I assume the user has a sense of being able to multi-task and achieving more. The fun part of finding this type of laptop user is waiting to see when their laptop will crash. And it’s just a question of time before they do.

Any experienced laptop user (aren’t we all?) knows that too many applications open at the same time, put a strain on the processor, and eventually you will crash.

No, you are not reading a CNET review on laptop performance. We are still discussing driving safety, what motivates drivers to drive the way they do, and what we can all do to increase driving safety.

So here are some important driving lessons I learnt from my laptop that can help increase your driving safety:

· When you drive, don’t multi-task. The more “applications” you have open at any given moment (driving + fiddling with the radio + answering a phone call + laughing with Tom + looking for the right exit off the highway) the greater the strain on your “processor”. Just like your laptop, too many applications running at the same time slows reaction time, and eventually you will crash.

· Select one application you want to work with and stick to it. Unlike our laptops we can’t really purchase more memory, invest in a faster hard disk or buy a more expensive and faster processor. We have what we have. So when you drive, just drive – it’s complicated and strenuous as it is.

This is especially applicable for teen drivers. In almost every aspect of life we encourage them to multi-task and handle several challenges simultaneously. The only place where we do not (absolutely do not) want teens to multi-task, is when they drive. The importance of stepping out of a multi-tasked world (their social life, college, school, sports) and into a single task world (focus on your driving while you drive) is not an easy or intuitive switch, and some teens go through this switch 20 times a day.

This is an issue every parent of a teen driver should be aware of -- and should make sure his or her teen driver is aware of as well. The simplest and easiest step any parent can do is talk with (not to) his or her teen driver and bring this issue up. Awareness does wonders.

Drive safely, it’s worth it!

Hod Fleishman

Founder and Chief of Safety, GreenRoad.

The Key to Eternal Life is Avoiding Death

2008-09-21T12:34:30-07:00

I can't promise you eternal life, but I think it would be safe to guarantee longer and happier life if you would follow the next three rules. They are easy to do, don’t require changing your diet or joining an expensive gym, and there is no need to read pie-in-the-sky books with psychedelic covers.

Follow these rules, and you will live a long and prosperous life!

Rule # 1: sleep more.

Over 1.3 million car crashes a year in the US alone are the result of people driving with their eyes closed. It's a neat trick, but very hard to do. Most of us have tried it at least once in the past, probably more. When we are tired, we want to get home so we just keep on driving, barely able to keep those lids from shutting down. When we don’t get enough sleep the previous night, the slow moving traffic jam rocks our car like a baby's cradle and ever so slowly we drift away. We've all been there.

Stay awake for 18 hours straight, and your reaction speed, short and long- term memory, focus, decision-making ability, math processing ability, cognitive speed, spatial orientation, etc., all begin to suffer, and this is just a partial list.

Let’s look at it from a different angle... How far do you think you could drive and how safely do you think you would get there if I cut your reaction time in half, blur your focus, slow down your decision-making ability and mess around with your spatial orientation? Not very far.

Now, sleep for just five or six hours a day for several days in a row, and all items in the entire list mentioned above are magnified.

Wake up call! In driving, experience is a double-edged sword. Stop drinking your own cool aid. Just because you managed to get away with it in the past provides no guarantee whatsoever you will be able to pull it off again. Driving with your eyes closed will kill you.

Rule number two: Don't Rely on Your Instincts.

Life is full of hard realities, so here's just another one we have to accept. Your reaction time is probably slower than you think. Even if it’s as fast as you think, it’s not nearly fast enough for to rely on as a safety net to protect you in case of a crash.

Let's say you are traveling at the not-so-fast speed of 50 miles an hour. Suddenly the car in front of you slams to a sudden stop, or a kid suddenly appears in the center of the road, right in front of your car.

You start thinking about what you are supposed to do; normal reaction time measurements tell us you will pass about 15 meters (the length of about 3 cars) before your foot will start pressing the brake pedal.

Next this mass of metal and plastic bits (your car) has to start slowing down. At 50 MPH this will require another 40 meters. But wait, you are not parked yet, because you need to add to the 40 meters stopping distance the 15 meters of thinking distance. So over all, from the moment you saw the need to stop until you have fully stopped, some 55 meters have passed. You have just traveled the length of half a football field "stopping".

Remember that kid from the start of the paragraph? You will need to look pretty hard in the rear view mirror to find him now.

Rule number three: Save Money.

Or how about make money? I did promise at the top both a long and prosperous life. From all three tips it’s the easiest one to complete because it actually requires you to do less than what you do today, not more. Do less, earn more, isn't that a compelling value proposition?

What is it that if you did less of, would put more money in your wallet? It’s very simple, and it’s a trade secret, so please do not pass this knowledge around. All you need to do is apply less force to the gas pedal in your car. Drive at anything above 55 MPH and that smell coming from the exhaust pipe of your car is not burnt fuel, it’s your money going up in smoke. Take a deep breath. Under normal conditions (typical car, normal gas prices) every 5MPH over 60, will cost you an extra 25 cents for each gallon. With today's oil prices, probably more. Kling, kling.. Hear those quarters rolling out of your exhaust? Slow down.

Drive slow, live long,

Hod Fleishman.

What I talk about when I talk about Safety

2008-09-08T15:20:58-07:00

Start a conversation about car crashes, deaths on the roads, traffic jams and all of a sudden everybody’s an expert. Try to do the same thing with other areas of expertise such as new drug development or the most cost effective way to reach Mars and there’s a distinct difference. It may be that we are all drivers and very few of us plan to travel to space in the near future.

It’s actually good that people are well opinionated on the subject, hey, who knows from whom the next great idea on the reduction of car crashes will come. The Edison of safety may be among us right now, they may have no diploma or PhD attached to their name, but may hold the key for reducing one of the top causes for deaths worldwide. Car crashes are a worldwide problem, so any educated suggestions are welcome.

Road fatalities are not a new thing, and did not start with the introduction of cars to the road. Horses, carriages and most other moving things sharing the road with other vehicles and pedestrians have been ending people’s lives for a very long time.

We can safely assume that once you crowd multiple people in multiple modes of transport, with different skills and attitudes, going in different directions over the same narrow space of a road, someone is going to get hurt. This is a constant.

What has been changing over the last 100 years or so, is the definition of why these unwanted occurrences take place. I mean, it’s not that people go out there to drive and plan to kill or be killed.

Initially, the blame was placed at the doorstep of the machine. Remember those Starsky and Hutch TV episodes? What did the bad guys do if they wanted to rid of somebody without getting caught? They tampered with the brakes of their opponent’s car. Vehicle malfunctions were common, so road deaths by faulty brakes or other technical failure were believed to be a probable cause.

Soon machines became pretty reliable, so the blame was shifted to the infrastructure. The roads were blamed, not enough light, signs or space; so the roads were improved. Regardless, those persistent drivers just couldn’t help from bumping into each other.

As human beings, we must have a cause for what is happening around us or to us, so the hot potato was placed in the hands of the human factor, i.e. the driver. You see, if the car was not to blame, and the road is acceptable, then it must be that piece of complex neurons holding the wheel who is to blame.

This is where we are today; we truly believe the driver is most responsible for crashes. That is why we see such major investments in two key areas. One is figuring out how to better teach drivers to drive. The second is going back to the machine, designing more complex and sophisticated solutions that can either protect the driver in a crash or help her avoid it in the first place.

The connecting point between education and technology wizardry is the driver. At the end of the day, until cars become trains driving on their own, the driver will have a say how the car is driven. So focusing on the driver and their choices plays a key part in the quest for crash reduction.

Which is why for me, safety can be boiled down to one concept: choice. We can educate drivers; we can provide them with fully dressed cars containing all possible driving aids. But at the critical moment it is up to the driver to choose how to drive. As a decision, are you a safe driver or not? Because even with the best driving education and with the best technology in the world one can still decide to drive recklessly.

So what do I talk about when I talk about safety? When I meet with parents, teens, councilors and decision makers, I talk about choice. And this choice goes beyond the choices drivers make when they drive. It’s the choice of the parent of the teen driver to be more involved in his kids driving; it’s the choice of the organization to provide its fleet managers and health and safety managers with better tools, it’s the choice of governments to invest in driver education.

The cause of crashes in today’s roads is not due to lack of technology, road quality or driver education (because even in countries with solid driver education programs, teens are still the highest risk group). The cause of crashes today is our ability, or lack of, to make the right choice as individuals and as a society. Do we want to be safe or not?

Make the right choice, it’s worth it,

Hod Fleishman

How one Café killed thousands of Americans

2008-08-09T08:38:56-07:00

There is a good and sure way to find out if you are in the midst of an energy crisis. All you have to do is answer the following questions (correctly):

1. What is the price of a barrel of fuel?

2. What is the MPG of your car?

3. Which car manufacturer sells a popular hybrid?

If you know the answer to all or any of the above, the crisis is on. Ten or twelve months ago, when cars were fast, fuel was cheap and politicians were smart, we didn’t worry about any of this. Now that concern is high, and the best brains in the field have figured out not enough dinosaurs perished in the Jurassic to supply our fuel needs, we begin to see some pretty creative solutions emerging.

This makes it the perfect time to rewind and return to a time similar to this, when fuel prices spiked – enter the 1973 oil fuel crisis.

I have a good idea... let’s get everybody to purchase pickup trucks!

Back then concern was as high as it is now, and the pressure for an immediate solution to the pain of high prices was in demanded. As I discussed in my previous blog “Clapping with one hand” systems involving humans, technology, software, vehicles and infrastructure are complex; Complex to create, maintain and most importantly complex to understand. Creating a change, even a well intentioned change, can result in very unwanted results due to the complexity of the entire system.

The remedy for the oil crisis pain was the US congress’ CAFÉ or the Corporate Average Fuel Economy program. Catchy name, but it had nothing to do with a skimmed milk latte.

Its aim: lower the US dependence on imported oil by reducing fuel use. The method: require all vehicle manufacturers to meet a pre-defined fuel use standard for its passenger and light trucks. The logic: as fuel consumption is related to the vehicle mass, (the heavier, the more energy required to move) in order to meet the fuel use, standard vehicles will need to become lighter and thus more fuel efficient. The expected result: lower US dependence on imported fuel.

What a beautiful plan. With only one minor downside, it didn’t work. And it had some odd results, such as increasing fuel consumption and increasing the number of fatalities on US roads.

At that time, car safety related to vehicle size. As cars became lighter and smaller due to the CAFÉ requirements (without having the benefit of current safety features and impact absorbing engineering) crash fatalities began to rise. Suddenly light vehicles met very large and heavy vehicles (such as vehicles transporting heavy goods that could not do anything to become lighter) and the results were catastrophic (for the person in the light vehicle).

Another unwanted result was the fact that vehicle manufacturers needed to introduce new lines of vehicles to meet CAFÉ requirements. These additions needed to be funded somehow, and this was done by increasing the cost of large vehicles. Consumers being consumers (i.e. clever) quickly found out that if you want to own a large (but cheap) vehicle, you could actually do so by purchasing... well, a truck. And thus the number of pickup trucks and later SUVs increased substantially. These vehicles created another unexpected result. Being bigger, heavier and taller, these cheaper options rolled over more easily. Being heavier meant that when they crashed into a smaller and lighter vehicle (now present at growing numbers because of CAFÉ) the risk of fatality increased. And finally, begin bigger and heavier meant larger engines which meant…more dependency on imported oil. Now hold on! Isn’t that what this program tried to prevent in the first place?? And what about the unwanted result of increased fatalities?

This should all be interesting to us today. We are in the midst of an energy crisis and we should be critical of the many solutions we are offered. We need to think and see what potential outcomes may be. Replacing one energy source with another, can be great for some reasons, but produce unwanted and unexpected results elsewhere.

Have a cup of coffee and think about it. And if you really, really want to do something really good for the environment, help conserve energy while being completely unwanted results hazard free do the following (while thinking about it):

Don’t speed

· Don’t accelerate harshly

· Drive moderately

Drive safely, it’s worth it,

Hod Fleishman

Founder and Senior Vice President of Business Development, Green Road.

Clapping with one hand

2008-07-31T06:16:15-07:00

You know the old twisty question… If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody hears it fall, did it make a sound?

How about taking this old saying and relating it about risk... If a risk is there and nobody sees it, is it there at all?

Denying the undeniable.

The way the human mind works, risks can play some pretty clever tricks on us. The world is full of varying levels of risk, and one can’t just walk around worrying about them all the time. We go through high risk experiences and if nothing happens to us, we sometimes interpret it as proof that the risk is minor and manageable. However, risk size is not the determining factor of whether an “event” occurs or not.. Don’t confuse luck with facts.

Take for example the famous incident of the space shuttle Columbia and the faulty O-Rings. There was a lot of talk in NASA at the time about the O-Rings and their sensitivity to low temperatures. The matter was discussed many times and was even the topic of a late night conference call before the day of the launch. There are many organizational, behavioral and engineering reasons that all contributed to the catastrophic explosion. However, one of the key facts that caused NASA to make the wrong decision (launch with suspicious o-rings as opposed to delaying the launch until the o-rings issue was fixed) was the fact that a few space missions had taken off successfully with the faulty o-rings in the past. Suddenly the risk was assessed as minor and manageable because no incident had occurred in the past. The reality was that a disaster was waiting to happen.

It’s built into the system.

Imagine the human body. Many of the diseases or illnesses we may suffer from in the future already exist within our bodies. As we get older, because of other health issues, nutrition, stress, etc. , these sleepy agents spring to life and become active.

The same thing happens in complex systems involving technology, software, hardware, machinery, engineering, design and people. The seeds or agents of disaster are built into the system. In a well designed system they are all at check. However, should something happen to tip the scales, the whole system can spin out of control and “potential” risk becomes very real.

The fact that the systems or experiences we go through in life started and ended smoothly and without a hitch should not mislead us to believe they are not full of hidden risks. The key to reduce and avoid risk is to keep a few steps ahead of the game. Know which levels of risks are involved and what agents are waiting in the shadows can help you be more prepared to maintain a safe system.

What could possibly go wrong?

Take the everyday act of driving as an example. We drive every day, mostly on the same routes we know by heart. Cars are relatively safe and the roads are well maintained. Roundabouts, road signs, street lights and a multitude of other pieces of equipment and engineering are all there to help the traffic move swiftly and safely. It seems pretty safe.

That is true for as long as everything works. But should one component in the system break out of line - say the car in front of me suddenly stops in the middle of the highway - and I did not keep a safe distance, the situation changes and deteriorates quite rapidly.

A host of hidden agents spring into action and attack the system. Suddenly that passenger in the back sit that didn’t put his seat belt on becomes a one-ton weight flying inside the car. Suddenly those old tires that you know you had to change couldn’t provide enough grip and maintain a short stopping distance. All of a sudden the driver behind you that knew he was tired, but still decided to keep on driving, couldn’t quite react in time.

The risks are built into the system. The agents are all there. A little bit of carelessness combined with a deviation from the norm, and havoc breaks loose.

Naturally we can’t walk around all day worrying about these things, but we do need to know they are there. We need to enjoy the safety of the systems around us, but at the same time be mindful of their complexity and possibilities of a sudden meltdown.

In such complex systems in which we live, what can we do to keep ahead of the game?

Keep a safe distance
Read the traffic: Pay attention to those around you and ahead of you to identify risky situations at an early stage
Avoid pushing the envelope
Leave yourself enough time to react
Don’t fall into the trap of believing that because you got away with it once, it’s safe to repeat
Remember the o rings!

Drive safely, it’s worth it,

Hod Fleishman,

Founder and Senior Vice President of Business Development, Green Road

RIP PAYD

2008-07-24T11:32:56-07:00

Rest in Peace Pay As You Drive. You were a necessary step in the evolution of insurance. A number of insurance companies experimenting with PAYD have recently dropped their projects. Some of which were quite large. These projects had to take place; the first movers who have spent time, resources and money should be congratulated for their efforts: moving closer to find the insurer’s holy grail. Using technology and real time information to proactively identify a high risk driver and reduce his or her risk.

So why drop these projects? What have these insurers found that made them understand a shift in direction is needed? Why doesn’t PAYD work? As in most complex situations the solution is in the right mix. To successfully leverage real time data to improve risk assessment and drive risk down, the following need to be in place:

1. Robust and proven technology creating a cost effective data stream..

2. ..Which needs to provide higher correlation to risk than existing tools..

3. .. and can also be used to drive effective behavior changing feedback to drivers..

4. .. on a platform and with a value proposition drivers will want to use.

The PAYD models experimented with until today do not check the above boxes. The most important of the above is point number four, user acceptance. As the companies experimenting with PAYD have found out a product which is not supported by the end users will not take off the ground, regardless of what valuable information it provides the insurance company.

There is an old joke about a group of sales people that met to figure out why the canned dog food they are selling is not being purchased by dog owners. One sales person claimed the package wasn’t attractive enough. Another said the price was wrong, and a third claimed marketing was not effective. Finally, one of the sales person rose to his feet a said, guys, the dogs.. They just don’t like it..

And in the case of PAYD, the “dogs” just did not like it. Following up on where and when you drive, has proven to be just too much for the average person’s appetite. Also, knowing a drivers risk is just part of the equation. The real benefit lies in helping a high risk driver reduce or completely eliminate his risk.

In a PAYD model this requires drivers to modify when and where they drive; for most of us this is blasphemy. I own a car, and purchase insurance, so I can drive where and when I want. As some drivers commented in interviews after being approached to join a PAYD/let me know where you drive project, they will not share their whereabouts for any discount in the world. Other drivers realized that opting for PAYD is actually more expensive than ordinary insurance as they could be panelized for collecting many miles or driving at the “wrong” hours, regardless of whether they drive safely or not. And when the dogs don’t like the dog food, the dog food will just not sell.

This reminds me of another old story. A person lost his keys on the dark end of the street, but was looking for them on the other side of the street that was lit by a shop window. “Why are you looking for your keys here, if you lost them there” asks his surprised friend. “Well”, he answers, “this is where the light is – it’s easier to look”.

The first insurance companies, who opted for PAYD, have been looking in the wrong and easy place; wrong technology, wrong data stream. It is relatively easy to pull location, mileage and length of trips information from vehicles. But how valuable is it? Are they strong indicators of driver risk, and can this data stream help modifying driver behavior? Looking at the PAYD program to date being pulled off the shelves, provides a negative on both.

In order to have both insurers and end users such as teens, parents or other drivers embrace the power offered by driver behavior based technologies we need to provide all users with a solid value proposition. We need to be able to provide insurers with data and processes that can help identify driver risk prior to a crash and help drivers reduce their risk. We need to provide clients with a safety service they will want to use. All is possible today. And no, you do not need to track where I go and when in order to do so.

Driver risk is the direct outcome of a driver’s attitude to driving and his driving skill. The reason teen drivers are such high risk is not because of the multiple miles they drive. On the contrary, driving instructors will claim they are not driving enough and not practicing enough. Teen drivers are high risk because of the deadly combo of low skill and wrong attitudes. If we want to identify who is a high risk driver there is no need to collect exposure data, which incidentally, even when possible to collect, tends to upset the end user. To identify a driver’s risk, we need powerful tools that can identify and evaluate his driving behavior more than his exposure. Only this will reveal what is the true risk of the driver, regardless if he is driving one hour a week, or 20 hours a day.

There is another benefit for taking the behavior route as opposed to the exposure data route. Not only is driver behavior data more indicative of driver risk and thus provides higher value to the insurance company, it also provides insight into what specifically is risky in the way an individual driver drives. This knowledge enables us to provide the driver with prescriptive guidance guiding him towards safer driving. Repeat – guiding him towards safer driving as opposed to limiting or taxing his mobility.

PAYD was a necessary step in the direction of figuring out how to use data generated by the driver to identify and minimize risk. The experiment is over and we can now move to the next step. The future is in being able to help drivers become safer as opposed to limiting their driving. Letting drivers manage their own safety without hurting their mobility. Supporting, highlighting and benefiting safe driving behavior. Once the drivers are happy with the solution provided to them, crashes will be reduced, and the wise insurer will remain competitive.

Drive safely, it’s worth it,

Hod Fleishman

Founder and Senior Vice President of Business Development, Green Road.

The fuel of life

2008-07-19T23:50:59-07:00

Wouldn’t it be great to wake up one morning and find a fully functional and productive oil well, comfortably located in your backyard? Until recently, unless your back yard was thousands of miles of sand dunes, the chances of this happening were quit slim. However, do not lose faith on this dream – it may just come true.

Opportunity is knocking; no – forget knocking, opportunity is slamming on the door. The frame is about to crack and the hinges can hardly stand the pressure. The prime source for energy in our world, the one driving the wheels of our cars and essentially of our economy, is about to change. And when energy sources are changing, new opportunities reveal themselves.

There is a very good chance you can significantly improve your life and discover a pot of gold at the same time. The irony of it all is that this double treasure was yours all along. It is circumstance that helps to highlight it and place a large “X” over its location, just for you.

It’s no secret that the chase for a replacement for fossil fuel is on. Inventors are busy coming up with new ideas and corporations are hiring the best minds in the market to crack the code of the next energy source. Venture capitals are investing heavily in what could potentially be the next form of energy to keep our wheels turning.

And here’s what’s interesting: While the need for a replacement source of energy is current and immediate, all of the solutions discussed will only mature in the future. Maybe it will be wind power or solar. It could even be corn, sugar or some bio mix created in a lab. We just don’t know yet. Each solution has its ups and downs. Some sources can produce the energy but are bad for the environment. Others are good for the environment but are not reliable. The search is still on. While we are busy coming up with future solutions, we should also spend time looking for solutions that can be available, well, now.

Because whether you own just one car, or a whole fleet of cars, you could really use a solution right now that will help decrease your fuel spend. Imagine cutting your fuel cost by just 5%; what would that do to your bottom line?

Barrels are at $150, some say prices will go up as high as $250 in the near future. I don’t care about corn, wind or electricity. These solutions will take years to develop, test and turn into marketable products. Like you, I would really like to see a solution that will relieve my spending pain now!

Two birds with one stone

It turns out that while we are waiting for all of the future fuel technologies to evolve and mature, we can actually save a considerable amount of fuel and money by just watching the way we drive. A few years back I visited a factory in the UK, one of the largest beverage distributors there. An aggressive CFO decided he is going to cut fuel costs. His plan was simple. First he measured the average MPG of the fleet drivers. Next he moved to penalize all the drivers whose MPG was worse than the average. He provided incentives to the drivers that managed to beat the MPG. As you can imagine, this plan captured everybody’s attention and raised awareness in drivers to be cautious about the way they drive.

Walking in between the company’s trucks and eighteen wheelers I asked the drivers with the best MPG to explain how they managed to increase their fuel efficiency. Here’s what they said:

1. Very moderate accelerations

2. Take your time to get to the speed you plan to travel in

3. Stick to the speed limit, wherever you are. If the sign says 35, then 35 it is.

4. Read the road ahead. Is that light red? No rush to get to the junction

5. Produce a smooth and moderate drive as much as possible

6. Don’t idle your vehicle. Vehicle is parked? Engine is off.

These tips, spoken from true professionals, are very interesting. First, because they managed to improve MPG by sticking to them, and second (or first, depending on how you prioritize things) because when we interviewed then, they tended to list the same tips for safe driving!

Good MPG, it turns out, is good safety as well. We have been checking this for a long time, and it’s a fact. The drivers who crash less are the ones burning less fuel.

So if you are after improved MPG, if you want to start digging for your own treasure to find a secret source of money planted right in your back yard, start driving moderately. Make sure your drivers are driving moderately. You’ll will hit two birds with one stone:

· Improved MPG

· Improved safety

Drive safely, it’s worth it.

Hod Fleishman,

Founder and SVP of BD

GreenRoad

This was no boating accident

2008-07-10T10:23:26-07:00

Jaws. What a classic. Seen by all, feared by all, remembered by all. The classic battle between man and beast. It’s also the classic battle between man and his own disbeliefs, regardless of how much evidence is at hand. Rewind to 1975. You are young and glued to the screen –a real screen that is, not your personal 45 inch flat HD TV. You are also wearing colorful bell bottom pants, which could be more frightening than the movie.). Around you are people all watching the same movie; you don’t know them, but that was the way it was in ’75. Strangers entered the same large room and watched movies together. Sometimes they even watched movies from inside their cars (but that’s a topic for a future blog.)

The action: Nighttime, a lonely swimmer enters the water, only to be attacked, by you know who. Faced with the horrifying results, the incident is dismissed as a “boating accident”. Do the islanders get the message and act to prevent another death? Nope, (if they would have, this could have been a very short and uninteresting documentary) lured by the coming summer business, mayor et el refuse to close the beach. A second attack does not wait for an invitation, and you know who gets to have his human breakfast.

A local fisherman, Quint, names a high price for riding the island from the threat – but again, no one is willing to pay the price, or deal with the now very obvious problem. An expert arrives at the island (young Richard Dreyfuss) and after segmenting the inside of an innocent tiger shark caught by over enthusiastic fisherman, proves to the locals that while they have caught one of the “usual suspects” – it is not at fault. Blame is elsewhere.

Oh, and then, the best line ever spoken on the silver screen. Better than “Bring in the usual suspects”, better then “May the force be with you”, better then “Frankly my dear I don’t...” my all time favorite: “This was no boating accident!”

Somehow, every time I enter another fleet that is yet to implement an effective driver safety management program, the scene with old Quint, jumps into mind. Actually the whole story board jumps into mind. It’s like watching Jaws over and over again for free. Fleet operators and managers are aware of risks. But all too often, time, budget and internal red tape blind their eyes, just like the coming tourists blinded our poor old mayor in the movie. All too often, instead of spending the time and finding the real killer, more “swimmers” are thrown into the water to feed the hungry beast.

“This was a boating accident” is the equivalent of the all too familiar “this is how I found the car (when I returned from shopping)” and every fleet manager will know what I am talking about. The fact that drivers feel free to come up with such nonsense has to do with the environment in which they live and operate. In a town where the mayor would rather have bathers risk themselves than deal with the real problem, let’s not be surprised that bathers are eaten alive in the shallow water.

This was no boating accident, and that smashed piece of metal in the parking lot was not a car accident. Crash is the term used by the experts, and for a good reason. An accident, by default, could not have been prevented. And I hope that by now all of us know that all but the most bizarre car crashes, can be prevented. So, this was no boating accident. And that my friends, was no car accident. It was a crash.

Ready to be your own island hero? Eager to receive the Oscar for safety? Well, it can be done! And you don’t even have to leave the shore, and wet your feet in order to kill the beast. As the format of world blogs demand, I thank you for making it all the way to the end of this piece, and I will reward you with five easy steps that should turn you into a local legend:

1. Be a hero. Select a good and effective fleet safety management solution; search the market, there are good solutions out there. All hero’s start acting on their own.

2. Be a leader. Find the right people in your company and get them on the same page. Change can be made. Lives can be saved. Operating costs will go down. The marketing people will jump up and down with joy as you feed them the good news about how safe and environmentally friendly your company is. Who should you focus on? Health and Safety manager, Procurement manager, HR, Finances, Safety VP’s, CEO…

3. Be an Oscar winner. Write the full script. Don’t just walk in there with an interesting story to tell. Build a plan and (planning is the key to genius) make sure you can make an effective case. Ask and answer the right questions. What is our risk today? How much are we losing? Whatwhat is our potential liability? What solutions are out there? How much do they cost? How and how much risk will they reduce?

4. Be a believer. Know this, to get an entire island of bathers out of the water during the height of the summer season is almost as hard as… well, getting people to drive safely. But that only means that once you get it done, you are an exceptional, one of a kind, hero. So don’t lose faith, with the right solution at hand you will not only get them out of the water, you will also kill the beast, and teach the entire island how to swim safely.

5. Be a farmer. A farmer? Yes sir! You know. The guy that wakes up early and gets the job done. Or a fisherman, the kind that catches sharks and ends up being the local hero.

Have any better ideas of how to catch a shark? Or prevent an accident? Write to me, I just love fishing stories,

Safe Sailing, it’s worth it,

Hod Fleishman

When Does a Crash Take Place?

2008-05-19T14:04:53-07:00

Following any car crash, comes the investigation or question inquiring why that specific crash took place. The answers are as varied as the people you ask. Consider a car strategically parked on its roof a few hundred feet away from a highway.

The police will describe the cause of the crash as “sudden road departure”, the insurance company as “own fault”, the coroner will discover the driver was drunk, and GreenRoad Safety Center reports may indicate the driver was a real hazard months before the crash.

For the family of the person involved, or the driver himself, being able to answer “why this crash happened” will be difficult. The causes may be many, but none can change the end result. In the face of tragedy, does it really matter?

So since the “why” is illusive or has very little impact on turning time back and preventing the crash, I suggest we focus on the “when” instead.

And by when I am referring to the moment the crash started taking place. So when does a crash begin? Is it at the moment of impact? Or maybe a few seconds before, when the driver started losing control over his car? Or maybe it starts when he started dosing off a few miles before the crash?

I firmly believe each at-fault crash starts at the moment a driver picks up the car keys from the coffee table.

If at that moment they are tired, drunk, distracted, overly happy, late, angry, or in any other negative form of physical or state of mind, and still decide to go on and drive – that is when the crash begins. Figuring out exactly what happened at the moment of impact – is not really interesting. The interesting fact is that they chose to drive in a state of mind that puts themselves and others at risk.

Last weekend I was driving off to a poplar forest near our house with my family. Beautiful winter day. A chance of some warmth, breaking through the light clouds in the sky.

Next to us drove another car with a family and their young kids. In the front sits dad and grandma. Both secured to their seatts with a seat belt. In the back were two kids in safety seats. In the center back row, sat mom. In the lap of mom, without a seat belt, sat a one year old baby.

Now, assuming the mother was not Britney Spears, what on earth would cause a mother do a thing like this? With all of the TV commercials about car safety, by now I thought everybody got the bit that even a small baby will increase its weight to something equivalent to three football players, should the car come to a sudden stop. No motherly love will be able to restrain him at this point.

So why did mom take such an unnecessary risk? Who knows. Maybe they were in a hurry. Maybe they promised to take the neighbor’s kids with them and there was no more room in the back seat. Maybe they just didn’t think about what they were doing.

There was no ill intent in what they did. But there was also no thinking. Should this family be involved in a crash, and something would happen to that baby (because I assure you that if they allowed themselves to drive with their baby this way once, they will do it again) no police report explaining “why” would make any difference. The “when” however, would be very clear. This crash started the moment mom or dad decided it was okay to drive this way.

This example may be grim, but maybe it will help you think before you pick up the keys from the coffee table:

1. No journey is worth your life.

2. When angry, drunk, tired, or distracted, you don’t belong behind the wheel.

3. Cars have safety features, use them.

4. Stop the next crash from taking place by deciding before you enter the car that you are going to drive in a safe manner. And then, “when’s” or “why’s” will less likely have to be answered.

Set your mind to driving safely, it’s worth it,

Hod