Speed limiting my vans?
Discussion
Ours are all tracked there was some resistance at first but now it's all fine. It allows more efficient route analysis and planning, keeps the IR happy as it shows vans are not used for anything other than business miles and massively reduces speeding when the guys know their area manager and their boss can see how fast and where they have been going.
Any change will encounter resistance but in most cases it's the guys you wouldn't mind losing who make the most noise. Tracking is the best option I think, should save you fuel by cutting down on 'unofficial' miles as well as speeding.
Any change will encounter resistance but in most cases it's the guys you wouldn't mind losing who make the most noise. Tracking is the best option I think, should save you fuel by cutting down on 'unofficial' miles as well as speeding.
Thank you all for your thoughts and experiences. You have given me much to consider.
I have a not decided 100% on my course of action and fully understand that I do need to see all points of view. Work today put another spin on the idea so a compromise solution my be required to cover most bases. Either way I have ruled out rev limiting but I am not opposed to a realisitic speed limit of 80mph to proctect driver and company interests with a incentive (not sure what yet) to reward increased fuel efficiancy, vehicle cleanliness and Zero fault accidents.
Vehicle condition reports are already done every friday.
I have a not decided 100% on my course of action and fully understand that I do need to see all points of view. Work today put another spin on the idea so a compromise solution my be required to cover most bases. Either way I have ruled out rev limiting but I am not opposed to a realisitic speed limit of 80mph to proctect driver and company interests with a incentive (not sure what yet) to reward increased fuel efficiancy, vehicle cleanliness and Zero fault accidents.
Vehicle condition reports are already done every friday.
Quote from the OP's profile page about his Astra.
"Took it up to 85mph the otherday and it was very relaxed cruising................. "
Wonder if he'd feel happy with a limiter - perhaps before he imposes it on his staff he should spend a few months experiencing the realities of using one on today's roads coupled with a tight, imposed work schedule.
"Took it up to 85mph the otherday and it was very relaxed cruising................. "
Wonder if he'd feel happy with a limiter - perhaps before he imposes it on his staff he should spend a few months experiencing the realities of using one on today's roads coupled with a tight, imposed work schedule.
Willy Nilly said:
do the company car drivers have big brother watching them too?
Would that be the non sign written, no fuel benefit, always availible for demo, mileage recorded, perk for doing the job, that if you ruin it you pay for it, not yours so look after it company car?I dont think that installing a speed limiter 10mph above the speed limit is too much Big Brother.
Back on topic no firm decision has been made, but as previously said due to responses on this thread has helped to see a bigger picture to consider and having a happy team is a greater benefit to the business than saving £250 per month.
H100S said:
Thank you all for your thoughts and experiences. You have given me much to consider.
I have a not decided 100% on my course of action and fully understand that I do need to see all points of view. Work today put another spin on the idea so a compromise solution my be required to cover most bases. Either way I have ruled out rev limiting but I am not opposed to a realisitic speed limit of 80mph to proctect driver and company interests with a incentive (not sure what yet) to reward increased fuel efficiancy, vehicle cleanliness and Zero fault accidents.
Vehicle condition reports are already done every friday.
80 is probably a good compromise; it's about enough to get an overtake done in lane three if there's a stupid person doing 65 in lane 2, but will stop them eking out that last 10mph that's probably causing 30% of your fuel bills. I have a not decided 100% on my course of action and fully understand that I do need to see all points of view. Work today put another spin on the idea so a compromise solution my be required to cover most bases. Either way I have ruled out rev limiting but I am not opposed to a realisitic speed limit of 80mph to proctect driver and company interests with a incentive (not sure what yet) to reward increased fuel efficiancy, vehicle cleanliness and Zero fault accidents.
Vehicle condition reports are already done every friday.
Egbert Nobacon said:
Quote from the OP's profile page about his Astra.
"Took it up to 85mph the otherday and it was very relaxed cruising................. "
Wonder if he'd feel happy with a limiter - perhaps before he imposes it on his staff he should spend a few months experiencing the realities of using one on today's roads coupled with a tight, imposed work schedule.
The difference is, he's responsible for the costs of running his own car so he's free to drive it as he wishes. His staff aren't responsible for the costs of running the vans - so the question is "what's the best way of ensuring the vehicles aren't abused"."Took it up to 85mph the otherday and it was very relaxed cruising................. "
Wonder if he'd feel happy with a limiter - perhaps before he imposes it on his staff he should spend a few months experiencing the realities of using one on today's roads coupled with a tight, imposed work schedule.
From our experience of limited vehicles rev limits make life near impossible if you want to climb long or steep hills with any significant loads. Speed limiters are much better but some of our drivers are utter 'tards and can't seem to grasp that sitting at full throttle on the limiter just uses more fuel.
Chrisw666 said:
From our experience of limited vehicles rev limits make life near impossible if you want to climb long or steep hills with any significant loads. Speed limiters are much better but some of our drivers are utter 'tards and can't seem to grasp that sitting at full throttle on the limiter just uses more fuel.
There's every chance they've grasped it just fine, but they don't like the limiters.Thing is, if you treat your drivers like 'tards they'll fulfill your expectations.
We run a mixed HGV/Van fleet so my team are used to 56mph limiters on the trucks. Installing them on the vans was just a case of finding a good speed compromise and we settled for 85mph. If they're professional drivers their license is more important than the ability to do 100 mph. Our experience is that the vans will sit at an indicated 80mph most of the time with 5mph left in reserve for overtaking. Limiters are just one aspect of Transport Cost Management - Fuel Cards, Training, Vehicle Spec, Trackers, Telematics all have a role to play. We have measured an increase in customer service levels as well as vehicle utilisation/availability since adopting a more integrated approach.
For instance in terms of vehicle spec, a more powerful engine leads to lower fuel bills and less maintenance as there is less need to thrash the guts out of it. Add aircon and cruise and the driver is all around more relaxed and focussed leading to less collisions. If you are keeping a vehicle for 5yrs then £1500 extra on a better engine and a couple of options is money well spent. Doesn't hurt residuals either so wont bang up the monthly cost whether on purchase or lease.
For instance in terms of vehicle spec, a more powerful engine leads to lower fuel bills and less maintenance as there is less need to thrash the guts out of it. Add aircon and cruise and the driver is all around more relaxed and focussed leading to less collisions. If you are keeping a vehicle for 5yrs then £1500 extra on a better engine and a couple of options is money well spent. Doesn't hurt residuals either so wont bang up the monthly cost whether on purchase or lease.
checkmate91 said:
I have driven my local council minibuses as a volunteer for a number of years and these are limited to 62mph even though the speed limit for minibuses on a motorway is 70mph. The modern buses have a soft limiter which you can play with, the older ones effectively switch off at 100kmh; they are very frustrating to drive.
Modern limiter on your local journey vehicles would be fine, national journey vehicles should have a sensible speed limit (say 75mph) in my view.
Minibus speed limit is now 62MPH the same a pcv's Modern limiter on your local journey vehicles would be fine, national journey vehicles should have a sensible speed limit (say 75mph) in my view.
bignathy said:
For instance in terms of vehicle spec, a more powerful engine leads to lower fuel bills and less maintenance as there is less need to thrash the guts out of it. Add aircon and cruise and the driver is all around more relaxed and focussed leading to less collisions. If you are keeping a vehicle for 5yrs then £1500 extra on a better engine and a couple of options is money well spent. Doesn't hurt residuals either so wont bang up the monthly cost whether on purchase or lease.
You sound good to work for, a nice change from some of the shysters looking to sack people without any warning, or coverting installing equipment to spy on the staff for months without informing them.Whats the cost offset against the tracker, getting fitted etc etc against the slightly lower cost of petrol per month? How much do you think you can save per month on petrol?
Personally, i prefer the reward scheme idea, happier employees are better for you in the long run, what every you say and how you justify it a tracker/limiter will piss them off (wrongly or rightly), they will take it personally.
A mixture of clean vans, no dmg, limited personal use + mpg = bonus is a great idea, it will cost pennies to setup a webpage where they can see how they are doing on a dynamic chart, and can have small 'battles' and mock the speed demons..(who will stick out , and hence modify there driving thru per pressure rather than top down management).
People love a few extra quid in the pay over anything else I would suspect, you could route 10% of the saving back in, that 90% saving for you and the more they do its win win.
Personally, i prefer the reward scheme idea, happier employees are better for you in the long run, what every you say and how you justify it a tracker/limiter will piss them off (wrongly or rightly), they will take it personally.
A mixture of clean vans, no dmg, limited personal use + mpg = bonus is a great idea, it will cost pennies to setup a webpage where they can see how they are doing on a dynamic chart, and can have small 'battles' and mock the speed demons..(who will stick out , and hence modify there driving thru per pressure rather than top down management).
People love a few extra quid in the pay over anything else I would suspect, you could route 10% of the saving back in, that 90% saving for you and the more they do its win win.
geeteeaye said:
bignathy said:
For instance in terms of vehicle spec, a more powerful engine leads to lower fuel bills and less maintenance as there is less need to thrash the guts out of it. Add aircon and cruise and the driver is all around more relaxed and focussed leading to less collisions. If you are keeping a vehicle for 5yrs then £1500 extra on a better engine and a couple of options is money well spent. Doesn't hurt residuals either so wont bang up the monthly cost whether on purchase or lease.
You sound good to work for, a nice change from some of the shysters looking to sack people without any warning, or coverting installing equipment to spy on the staff for months without informing them.joe_90 said:
Whats the cost offset against the tracker, getting fitted etc etc against the slightly lower cost of petrol per month? How much do you think you can save per month on petrol?
Personally, i prefer the reward scheme idea, happier employees are better for you in the long run, what every you say and how you justify it a tracker/limiter will piss them off (wrongly or rightly), they will take it personally.
A mixture of clean vans, no dmg, limited personal use + mpg = bonus is a great idea, it will cost pennies to setup a webpage where they can see how they are doing on a dynamic chart, and can have small 'battles' and mock the speed demons..(who will stick out , and hence modify there driving thru per pressure rather than top down management).
People love a few extra quid in the pay over anything else I would suspect, you could route 10% of the saving back in, that 90% saving for you and the more they do its win win.
Tracker market is very competitive, lots of resellers selling a very few products. We got ours fitted at £500 per vehicle for 5 years - they work on mobile phone technology updating every few minutes - so only £100 per year all in. Google Maps based web front end with multiple users. At less than £10 per month per vehicle it becomes difficult not to do it.Personally, i prefer the reward scheme idea, happier employees are better for you in the long run, what every you say and how you justify it a tracker/limiter will piss them off (wrongly or rightly), they will take it personally.
A mixture of clean vans, no dmg, limited personal use + mpg = bonus is a great idea, it will cost pennies to setup a webpage where they can see how they are doing on a dynamic chart, and can have small 'battles' and mock the speed demons..(who will stick out , and hence modify there driving thru per pressure rather than top down management).
People love a few extra quid in the pay over anything else I would suspect, you could route 10% of the saving back in, that 90% saving for you and the more they do its win win.
bignathy said:
Tracker market is very competitive, lots of resellers selling a very few products. We got ours fitted at £500 per vehicle for 5 years - they work on mobile phone technology updating every few minutes - so only £100 per year all in. Google Maps based web front end with multiple users. At less than £10 per month per vehicle it becomes difficult not to do it.
So basically, its a mobile, linked to a car battery (with a backup) than txt's its geo position evey few mins?Fair enough.. I may look at integrating that tech into our software then. If you are a techy, does it have a api that comes with it? or just use the phone bases geo stuff? And what the company name?
Cheers
Flanders. said:
Vulgar LS2 said:
I had trackers fitted just over a year ago, the savings are more than fuel you also cut down on any unpaid breaks.
We monitored our staff for 3 months before telling them they were being tracked, it made for a very interesting meeting when confronted with their piss taking at My expense.
Now that would fWe monitored our staff for 3 months before telling them they were being tracked, it made for a very interesting meeting when confronted with their piss taking at My expense.
k me off. you would seriously have zero justification for moaning, it's their van and they can do whatever the hell they like with it frankly.
If a person's work pattern would change as a result of having a senior manager sat in the passenger seat, in this instance a tracker, then that behaviour needs 'adjusting' ie, they are plain old taking the piss, just because they are 'only' a van driver it doesn't mean that they are automatically exempt from management.
if someone came into a meeting of that sort with me with the attitude you are exhibiting, i doubt i would need to look at the data, i could make a good guess at the results in advance.
joe_90 said:
bignathy said:
Tracker market is very competitive, lots of resellers selling a very few products. We got ours fitted at £500 per vehicle for 5 years - they work on mobile phone technology updating every few minutes - so only £100 per year all in. Google Maps based web front end with multiple users. At less than £10 per month per vehicle it becomes difficult not to do it.
So basically, its a mobile, linked to a car battery (with a backup) than txt's its geo position evey few mins?Fair enough.. I may look at integrating that tech into our software then. If you are a techy, does it have a api that comes with it? or just use the phone bases geo stuff? And what the company name?
Cheers
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff