H.O. Bouchard, a large tank trailer fleet in the Northeast for heavy transport of energy fuels and industrial raw materials, has deployed the SmartDrive program with Extended Recording across its entire fleet. As a result, the company has seen substantial improvement to its SmartDrive Safety Score — a leading indicator to objectively assess safe driving performance and compare drivers, sites and other organizational units.

When H.O. Bouchard leaders began investigating video-based solutions, they contacted a well-respected fleet that had previously deployed a video-based safety and analytics program. While discussing providers, the H.O. Bouchard team quickly determined the SmartDrive program was superior and could meet the fleet’s needs today and well into the future. 

“With the risks associated with hauling fuel and other heavy industrial materials our drivers face every day, the liability is out there,” commented Norman Patchell, H.O. Bouchard’s director of safety and compliance. “Since implementing the SmartDrive program, we’ve been able to provide coaching and feedback that has resulted in greater driver awareness, less-aggressive driving, and fewer public complaints.  It’s reassuring to know that, with SmartDrive, we have video to clear our drivers when they are falsely-accused of wrongdoing and help reduce the risk associated with commercial transportation.”

Started in 1958 as a small company operating a few dump trucks, today H.O. Bouchard is a specialized tanker fleet providing transportation services and 18-wheeler truck maintenance to the Northeastern United States, Quebec and New Brunswick. Having maintained a safety-first culture throughout its history, H.O. Bouchard is one of the few companies to employ full-time driver trainers, ensuring drivers have the necessary tools and coaching needed to deliver the best possible service to customers.

With safety being integral to H.O. Bouchard’s culture, the company opted to deploy the SmartDrive Extended Recording capability, which provides access to more than just 10- or 20-second video events. Pairing exception-based recording with optional DVR-like functionality to provide full situational context to fleet managers, Extended Recording offers the company “never-miss” protection, which is ideal for low-impact collisions, compliance and security incidents.

“SmartDrive Extended Recording provides additional evidence when minor collisions occur, so we’ve added it to our vehicles that travel in high-traffic areas, where low impact events are likely to occur, but don’t necessarily trigger the video recorder,” added Patchell. “With Extended Recording, I can see what happened during the minutes prior to the collision — such as verifying if someone was in the correct lane and then determining if another driver actually impacted our vehicle.”