Harsh driving events; such as sudden braking, rapid acceleration, and sharp cornering impact road safety and fleet performance. Understanding how Motive detects and manages these behaviors helps improve driver safety, reduce costs, and promote a proactive safety culture.
Overview
Motive uses advanced hardware and AI to detect and manage harsh driving events. This helps fleets identify risky behaviors and coach drivers for safer performance. Key features include:
- Accurate detection: Events come from telematics sensors. Only harsh braking videos are reviewed, not accelerations or cornering. Harsh braking is annotated to avoid missing collisions.
- Real-time alerts: Instant notifications help promote safer habits.
- Comprehensive review: Event data, video, and coaching tools support driver improvement.
- Customizable settings: Tailor event detection and alerts to fit your fleet’s needs.
Detecting harsh driving
Motive uses a combination of signals from vehicle speed, gps speed, vehicle gateway's IMU (accelerometer) to measure changes in g-force and detect harsh driving. Supported dashcams—AI Dashcams (DC-53, DC-54) and Smart Dashcams (DC-33, DC-34)—provide video evidence and real-time alerts.
- The Vehicle Gateway can detect harsh events even without a dashcam.
- Events are triggered when g-force thresholds are exceeded, varying by behavior and vehicle type.
- Admins can adjust detection sensitivity by selecting the vehicle class (Light, Medium, Heavy Duty) and using predefined or custom g-force settings.
Hard braking
Hard braking occurs when a vehicle decelerates suddenly and forcefully, exceeding the defined g-force threshold. Motive triggers in-cab audio alerts for drivers using supported dashcams.
- Risks: Increased chance of rear-end collisions, faster wear on brakes and tires, potential cargo damage, reduced fuel efficiency, and passenger discomfort.
- Detection: Monitored by the accelerometer and dashcams; flagged when braking force exceeds limits.
Harsh acceleration
Harsh acceleration happens when a vehicle accelerates abruptly, exceeding the set g-force threshold. Supported dashcams provide in-cab audio or visual alerts.
- Risks: Higher accident likelihood, added stress on the engine and drivetrain, increased fuel consumption, cargo shift, and passenger discomfort.
- Detection: Triggered by rapid speed increases above threshold values.
Harsh cornering
Harsh cornering occurs when a vehicle takes a turn with excessive speed or force, detected when lateral g-force thresholds are surpassed.
- Risks: Greater risk of rollovers (especially in top-heavy vehicles), loss of vehicle control, tire damage, cargo shift, and potential passenger injury.
- Detection: Monitors side-to-side (lateral) g-force and alerts drivers in real-time via dashcam.
Reviewing events
Fleet managers can efficiently review and manage harsh driving events in the Motive Dashboard:
- In the Fleet Dashboard, go to Safety > Events to access all detected events.
- Filter by date, driver, vehicle, severity (Critical, High, Medium, Low), behavior type, or coaching status.
- Select any event to view details, including video, map location, g-force/speed graphs, severity, and coaching options.
- Receive email alerts for events with media and request extended video if more context is needed.
- Track harsh event rates per 100 miles in each driver’s Driver Safety Profile.
- Drivers can view their own Safety Score, event impacts, and coaching feedback in the Driver App > Safety Hub, if shared by their manager.
- Managers can dismiss inaccurate or unavoidable events within four weeks to prevent negative impacts on a driver’s Safety Score.
Harsh driving events, Safety Scores, and coaching
Harsh driving events are a key factor in Motive’s Safety Score, which measures safety events per 1,000 miles. Different behaviors (e.g., hard braking) carry more weight in the calculation.
- Admins can customize scoring parameters and weightings.
- Each detected event creates a coaching opportunity—automated feedback is delivered via AI Coach in the Driver App.
- Managers can schedule coaching sessions and assign training for repeated unsafe behaviors.
Benefits of reducing harsh driving behaviors
Managing harsh driving behaviors leads to:
- Fewer accidents: Reduced collisions and related injuries.
- Cost savings: Better fuel efficiency, lower vehicle maintenance.
- Insurance advantages: Potential for lower premiums with shareable safety data.
- Operational efficiency: Less downtime and stronger evidence against false claims.
- Positive safety culture: Promotes accountability and recognizes safe drivers.
FAQs
How does Motive detect harsh driving events?
Motive uses a combination of signals from vehicle speed, gps speed, vehicle gateway's IMU (accelerometer) to detect changes in g-force, while Motive dashcams provide video and real-time alerts for enhanced accuracy.
How can I adjust detection sensitivity for harsh driving events?
Admins can set vehicle class and adjust sensitivity presets or custom g-force thresholds in the Motive platform.
Do harsh driving events affect the driver’s Safety Score?
Yes, these events are a major factor in the Safety Score calculation, with some behaviors weighted more heavily.
Can drivers see and coach themselves on harsh driving events?
Drivers can review their events, Safety Score, and coaching feedback in the Driver App if their fleet manager enables access.
What happens if an event is inaccurate or unavoidable?
Managers can dismiss such events within four weeks to exclude them from the driver’s Safety Score.
Can harsh driving events be detected without a dashcam?
Yes, the Vehicle Gateway can detect events without a dashcam.
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