Telematics (black boxes)

[M.C]

How do they work and what do they measure? We had some fitted to our vans at work, and they warned me this morning I was scoring quite highly for hard acceleration/braking, then phoned me up during the day saying I was the highest on shift with 30+ 'incidents'

I barely use any throttle (the vans are quite torquey) and tend to brake lightly and use engine braking. Can't work out what I'm doing wrong as people often comment on how smooth my driving's and how early I see stuff developing

[Jewlio Rides Again LLB]

Acceleration, braking, speed, cornering.

Assume they'll be some sort of tilt mechanism in them, similar to the Spyball type things?
____________________
Mpd72: I can categorically say i’m Brighter than that, no matter how I come across on here.
HAHAHA HAHAHA Blew Chilly MyCrowSystems

[Lord Percy]

It'll use an accelerometer, same as what's inside most smartphones.

https://www.sensorsmag.com/files/sensor/nodes/2009/5852/Figure1.gif

When accelerating or braking, the mass is shifted forwards or backwards, which closes/opens the gap between the capacitors in the circuit. Capacitance is measured in terms of how far apart the capacitor plates are, so when the circuit changes in the way I've described, the voltage changes, and it's this change in voltage that is used to produce a reading for acceleration/braking.

As for why you're getting so many 'alerts'... If you definitely are a good, smooth driver, there's a chance it's being caused by a bumpy road, although I'm sure a good unit will be designed to get around that. Otherwise maybe it's broken? Or a low quality design.

Going up and down steep hills will also cause a different reading because anything off the horizontal plane will cause a gravitational pull on the accelerometer, though a good device will be designed to get around that as well.

[Jewlio Rides Again LLB]

Cornering?
____________________
Mpd72: I can categorically say i’m Brighter than that, no matter how I come across on here.
HAHAHA HAHAHA Blew Chilly MyCrowSystems

[Ben90]

Is the unit secure wherever it's fitted? Could be rattling around.
____________________
Yamaha FZ6 S2

[Polarbear]

Download the Aviva drive app and see what you get? Might give you an idea of what's happening.

Actually, I think we should all download the Aviva drive app and whoever gets the worst score should get a prize

https://www.aviva.co.uk/drive/
____________________
Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[DRZ4Hunned]

I think they use the same mysterious system that is used to quote for their insurance.

I was told my braking force was too severe on a day that I didn't even drive my car.
____________________
DRZ400-SM
FZS600

[M.C]

I was thinking of downloading the app and waving it in their face (assuming it gives a 'good' score), but I think they'll trust their own system, even if it's new & unproven.

Can road humps trigger anything? I was also wondering if engine braking would be worse for these systems.

[bamt]

If you are "scoring" consistently badly, then offer to take the person responsible for the telematics for a drive to see how you are. Maybe you are actually a rubbish driver, or maybe your unit is playing up.

[M.C]

I already did offer to take another driving assessment. We have different vans so I don't know if it's just me or just that van. ATM the system is just monitoring each van, but we're going to get a fob thing that links to us individually.

[spnorm]

We've just had these fitted to all our company vehicles by an outfit called Masternaut.

6-10 incidents per hour is seen as acceptable

Speeding offences over the threshold (10% in our case) are complied into a weekly report and e-mailed to the line manager/director.

You can log into the Masternaut website to check your rating and how it compares to your team.

It's only been live since the beginning of the month and everyone's complaining about the "harsh braking" settings, myself included

I do a lot of long motorway journeys though which helps to average out the braking/accelerating incidents, so my average is currently 0.9 incidents/hour in my BMW 320d, so I'm a very good boy

[M.C]

That's the system we've got. I hope they don't analyse speeding, I tend to stick to 30(+)mph limits, but I'm not driving at 20mph...

[uberkron]

I fit a few hundred each year, and if not secured and oriented they cannot supply meaningful information.

Even for use as a motorsport datalogger they are hopeless. But it will entertain somebody back at base and justify many hours of unproductive activity.

I have been involved with the cheapest, and the most expensive. The boards populated with same components. Seems the money goes into the housing and promotion of the units.

Perhaps swap vehicles with another driver and compare.
____________________
i ride a zip 50 2smoke. It overtakes a hundred times a day.

[Andy_Pagin]

Couldn't you swap vans with someone else and see what happens?
(edit) Erm, as someone else just suggested
____________________
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[Omega]

I'd start by asking my boss for more information. Put the onus on him to show where your driving is going wrong before you start worrying about how his system works.

Performance monitoring systems are handy tools but they're useless if you just use them to say "computer says you suck, sort it out or you're sacked".

[Rogerborg]

[Poseidon]

We had mx Telematics where I used to work. The systems were shite. Often you'd be travelling at a constant speed the unit would buzz, flagging up "over-braking" then simultaneously flag up "over-accellerating". In the end management only looked at the "over-speeding" and "over-idling" figures to pull staff up on. I had a log in for 2 years. Not once did I ever go to the site, let alone assess my score. I'm so glad the company spent tens of thousands of pounds fitting a system to make us all hate management a little bit more, rather than investing that money in a decent fleet or even giving us a pay-rise.
____________________
1977 Honda CG125
2002 Ducati Monster S4 (currently restoring)

[janner_10]

Out of interest.

Given the fact you don't have any accidents / speeding NIPs - what are the actual downsides to getting these incidents?
____________________
Yamaha FZS600 (Now gone to heaven) > CBR600F4i (SOLD) > '99 YZF-R1

[DrDonnyBrago]

High score!

What happens if you win?

[BumpingUglys]

[M.C]

[Andy_Pagin]

Take a couple of smartphones with you with different tracker apps running, then compare notes. I'd be interested to see how they compare.
____________________
They're coming to take me away, ho-ho, hee-hee, ha-haaa, hey-hey,
the men in white coats are coming to take me away.
Yamaha Vity -> YBR125 -> FZS600 Fazer -> FZ1-S Fazer

[J.M.]

[BTTD]

Company I work for is currently looking into these for pool vehicles. The need is actually down to HMRC compliance to prove that these are pool vehicles, and not used by staff as company cars without the tax.
Technically you can just make staff fill out mileage reports and declare all use is business related, but the onus is on the company to keep accurate records and strangely enough one or two staff tell porkies when the truth = large tax bill. Tracker is the simplest and most cost effective method.
Apparently there is evidence of improved fleet mpg and reduced number of accidents. Could be marketing, but does sound likely.