|
06/11/2007 ECM “Black Boxes” – Snitches or Saviors?
Whether you like it or not there is a passenger in every one of your trucks. Silent, unseen, always on duty and constantly recording information. Virtually every commercial truck on the road today is equipped with an onboard-computerized “black box.” This device records and saves information regarding truck performance and driver activity. In the event of an accident and subsequent litigation, it can be your worst enemy or your best friend.
In the early 1990’s, because of government mandates to reduce air pollutants, and meet minimum mileage standards, truck manufacturers began equipping their 18-wheelers with engine electronic control modules, ECMs. Back then these ECMs were used to monitor, record, and adjust engine performance in order to insure that the engine was operating within the specified guidelines.
Throughout the 1990s as ECM technology and computing power increased, more and more functions, or modes, were added. Today the ECMs in modern trucks are much more akin to the Flight Data Recorders found on commercial aircraft, than they are to their earlier more primitive cousins. Virtually every operating parameter of the vehicle and driver action can be monitored. Vehicle status, from engine rpms, speed, throttle position, speed governor settings, etc, is monitored and recorded on a continuous basis. Driver actions from braking and accelerating, to the use of turn signals and windshield wipers are also recorded.
In the past few years ECM data has been linked to GPS vehicle location data and to information generated by onboard crash avoidance systems. The modern 18-wheeler has become, in effect, a database on wheels.
The wealth of data available to motor carriers have given them unprecedented ability to control their fleet operations. In real time they can now monitor the position of each of their vehicles as well as the health and operational status of those vehicles. They can also analyze the driving performance of individual drivers to determine a driver’s strengths and weaknesses. That information can be used to tailor training programs to improve the safety and efficiency of individual drivers.
There have however been some unforeseen effects of the availability of all of this information. Accident investigators now routinely use this information in their determination of the causes and events of an accident. This information is also commonly sought by attorneys representing plaintiffs for possible use in litigation against motor carriers. However it is also used by motor carriers to show that their driver was not at fault in an accident.
Some motor carriers see this information as a threat because it can provide potent ammunition for plaintiffs in lawsuits if indeed the motor carrier’s driver was at fault in an accident. Most carriers however, have a somewhat different view. They want to know the facts of an accident situation even if those facts are not in their favor. By knowing where they stand they can choose to forego the expense of a trial and reach a fair settlement prior to the possibility of a much larger judgement being rendered after a trial.
Tom Wintz, President of Dedicated Logistics Inc., DLI, a third party logistics provider shares the view that it is better to know the facts of an incident. His company recently began using the “Onboard Event Recording” feature of the PeopleNet communications and tracking system. The OER feature allows the capture and recording of a wide range of events immediately before and after an accident or incident. Says Wintz; “You never know what you might be exposed to when operating on the road…OER gives our people access to data to prove or disprove the facts in the event of an accident.”
Many trucking companies and managers are finding that far from being a negative the ECM data often provides them a rock solid defense in situations where they might otherwise have been held to be at fault. Trucking industry attorneys know that there is often a built in bias against large trucks in accident situations. The very size of 18-wheelers tends to draw attention to them and away from smaller automobiles. Actions of the car driver which may have caused or at least contributed to an accident frequently go unnoticed by witnesses. The data generated by ECM black boxes can be the key in proving that the truck was in the right even when “witnesses” swear otherwise.
Jeff Super is the Transportation and Networks manager for the United States Postal Service in St. Paul. He recounted an incident which illustrates the potential value of ECM data. “We had a recent case where one of our drivers was accused of speeding and causing an accident. XATA’s (the communications and data system used by USPS) applications were able to prove our driver was not at fault, and in fact driving ten miles an hour under the speed limit.
Without XATA, we would have had no way to prove this.”
Like it or not, the “database on wheels” concept is here to stay. Trucks can’t run without electronic control modules, and those modules will continue to increase the amount of data they record. Smart fleet managers will focus on the benefits provided by this information and make the most of it to increase both efficiency and safety.
| 
