Video telematics still have a way to go before becoming considered a must-have safety feature, according to a recent pulse survey conducted by Work Truck. The publication collected a total of 56 fleet professional responses (52 completed and 4 partially completed surveys) from February 7 to 28, 2022. All respondents manage a fleet that includes light- and/or medium-duty trucks or vans.

The top three respondents identified themselves as corporate/executive management (including owner/operator), maintenance/shop management, and other (including department manager and fixed asset manager). The top three lines of business include construction (mining, logging, concrete, paving, or excavating); federal, state, or local government; and other (including fire, marine, and university).

Those who responded have the following fleet breakdowns:

• Class 1 or 2 – 79%

• Class 3 – 75%

• Class 4 – 58%

• Class 5 – 64%

• Class 6 – 62%

• Class 7 – 62%

• Class 8 – 68%

Most had fleets with 2-50 vehicles (37%), 101-1,000 (25%), and 1,001-3,000 (15%).

Over half of the respondents (64%) said their fleet had not implemented some form of video telematics, while only 36% stated they had.

Among those who have implemented video telematics, the majority said they feel it's made a difference in the safety of their fleet (65%). Twenty-five percent said not enough time had passed for them to tell a difference, and 5% said they saw no difference at all. “Not sure/don’t know” accounted for another 5%.

A variety of reasons were provided for why fleet managers were motivated to give video telematics a shot. These ranged from the obvious (accident prevention, alignment with safety culture, and litigation mitigation) to the somewhat surprising (one fleet manager wrote “our backhoe operators asked to have them installed in their equipment due to the way they are treated while driving on the road” and “pressure from non-equipment operation officials”).

Down the road, fleet managers would like to see the following features:

• AI

• Closer mirror vehicle ADAS systems

• Facial recognition for smoking and distracted driving

• Geofencing

• Positive reinforcement/operator training

• Indicating what CEL and MIL codes mean instead of just getting the code then having to look up the code

For those fleet managers who have not implemented video telematics, only 14% said their company plans to implement video telematics in the future. Fifty-four percent said they do not plan to do so, and 26% of respondents were unsure at the time they responded to the survey. Six percent of fleet managers said it was not their decision to make.

For the latest on Work Truck's 2022 survey series, see the results of our January survey on EV truck adoption.