Leading Australian universities and road safety partnership programs (supported by state road transport authorities such as VicRoads) have conducted multiple studies of road crashes to understand the leading causes and severity of the crashes.

Throughout the studies, it has become clear that the severity of road crashes is higher when it involves a high-impact or rollover.

What is a Crash Detection event?

• High-Impact: when a vehicle crashes into an immobile object such as a tree. *when using an AVL or Nextrak
• Rollover: when a vehicle has rolled onto its side or roof. *only when using an AVL

Understanding Crash Detection causes

Studies such as those by the Centre for Automated Safety Research (page 9), have made it possible to pinpoint the leading causes of these accidents - with rollovers being far more common in serious traffic accidents and likely to cause serious injury or death. In single-vehicle rollovers, the most common recorded causes are (in order from most common, to least common):

1. Rollover involving driver inattention
2. Rollover due to alcohol or drugs
3. Rollover due to vehicle fault, i.e. worn out or faulty brakes
4. Rollover involving inappropriate speed
5. Rollover involving driver fatigue
6. Rollover involving dangerous driving

Fleet managers and health and safety managers can now implement fleet safety measures reduce the risk of these crashes happening and be notified immediately in the event of a high-impact or rollover crash.

Why you need a Crash Detection system and how it works

In a crash that triggers Crash Detection alerts, the driver and passengers are likely to be injured, rendered unconscious or immobilised. The best way to ensure that managers know about such crashes is to install a vehicle tracker such as Smartrak's Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) and Nextrak, which are securely fitted in the vehicle.

The AVLs monitor for Crash Detection events by monitoring the accelerometer in the AVL, checking for two forms of adverse events:

1. Impact Detection - monitors the front, back and side for sudden large changes in accelerations.
2. Rollover at Rest - detects when a vehicle is no longer upright (rolling over and coming to rest on its side or roof)

For our Nextrak devices, Impact Detection is the what will trigger Crash Detection Events.

The feature is intended to detect and report on adverse events that involve vehicle collisions and rollover of such severity that the driver is unable to press an emergency dash switch or use a 2-way radio or mobile phone to call for help. It is not intended to detect all types of collisions, particularly low-speed impacts, e.g. 'fender-benders'.

What does the Crash Detection feature do?

When a Crash Detection event is registered through the AVL or Nextrak, an alert is sent directly from the tracking device installed in the vehicle to Smartrak's online software. Department managers, team leaders and third-party security monitoring centres have access via the software platform, where the Crash Detection alert will appear. They can also receive SMS and Email Crash Detection alerts.

The Crash Detection event provides the date and time, vehicle details, vehicle GPS location and driver identification (if the vehicle has a Driver ID system). This critical information helps the organisation deploy its emergency escalation process and/or helps emergency services get to the crash site to assist the driver or passengers.

Other ways to reduce the risk of crashes

The Crash Detection feature is not an infallible tool and should be used in conjunction with other fleet safety methods to proactive protect workers.

• Introduce a Telematics system to ensure that drivers are always alert, particularly if they overspeed, depart from lanes, forget to rest or are about to have a front collision. Management can also report on driver behaviour and identify unsafe drivers, taking preventative driver training measures to minimise the risk of a high magnitude crash.
• Improve fleet vehicle servicing to ensure that brakes and tyres and other mechanical components are always safe and roadworthy, reducing the risk of an accident.
• Improve fatigue management practices, via monitoring vehicle activity to identify possible risks of fatigue. By reviewing the duration of trips, drivers found to be travelling for more than a few hours may need guidance or education on how to best plan their day and trips to include regular breaks.

How will this benefit the organisation?

Organisations and managers benefit from having the Crash Detection feature and the other ways to reduce the risk of a high magnitude incident. It reduces the risk of serious injury or death of employees and supplements the current health & safety practices to help organisations comply with their duty of care obligations.

The Crash Detection feature can be implemented with Smartrak's  AVL and Nextrak GPS tracking hardware. Contact Smartrak today, to find out more about our Crash Detection solution.