The Restrata Blog

Online shopping has altered consumer and business expectations around standard delivery times. As a result, Carriers face increased demands to transport goods faster and more reliably to complete more deliveries than ever before.

This, coupled with issues like driver shortages, fuel increases and roadworks or accidents causing diversions on our roads, creates an almost impossible situation for fleet operators. They must do more with less; more deliveries and miles with fewer drivers and trucks. At the same time, they must also battle the need to cut costs, comply with a host of regulations and face a range of daily hurdles that could prevent goods reaching their destination.

In 2016, a lorry driver was jailed for 10 years in the UK, for killing a woman and three children. His vehicle ploughed into their stationary car while he was scrolling through music on his mobile phone. The victims died instantly on impact; the vehicle hit them at 50mph and they were shunted under another heavy goods vehicle, crushing the car to a third of its size.

On passing sentence, the judge Maura McGowan, said his attention had been so poor that he "might as well have had his eyes closed".

All of us depend on technology, some more than others. If you’re a trucking professional — whether an independent operator or a fleet manager — the technology you use every day, including GPS fleet tracking, supports both your life and your livelihood. So you’re well aware that a schedule of preventative maintenance not only keeps everything going, it helps hinder costs and other issues from getting out of hand.

Whether you own a trucking business or run one, there are some alphabetic combinations that are top of mind — for example, ROI, EBIDTA and P/L. You’re on the lookout for ways to make positive cash flow more positive. In that light, adding GPS fleet tracking to your vehicles can be a powerful tool.

Technology is disrupting the trucking industry in a way we have never seen before. As automakers continue to innovate and define the future of the connected car and autonomous vehicles, the commercial transportation industry is taking note, and fleet managers are adjusting the way they oversee their vehicles and drivers.

Throughout human civilisation there’s been a need to transport freight. This has evolved over time as new technologies were introduced and widely adopted.

Working alone, outside of the traditional office is commonplace, and an estimated 49 million staff around the globe fit into this category (Berg Insight Report 2013). Employers owe all staff a duty of care, and as such they need to consider the risks to lone worker's safety in what often has the potential to become a hostile environment, leaving them vulnerable to violence, abuse, accident or injury.