Above and Beyond ELD: An Accident-Driven Use Case
Every fleet manager knows about ELD and its compliance mandates. But there are also many other situations in which ELD can prove useful, and turn the cost center of regulatory ELD compliance into a cost saver -- if your fleet is equipped with the right ELD tools.
Indeed, a robust ELD solution should be capable of easing a lot of the pains that fleet managers frequently feel, with capabilities that include things like IFTA data collection and reporting, payroll integrations, rental fleet management, and much more.
With those generalities in mind, we’d like to take a look at a value-added specific use to which CyntrX customer Lane Steel Company has put our ELD solution: Accident reporting.
Meet Lane Steel Company
It’s unfortunate that accidents happen -- but the fact is, they do. After two minor accidents involving their fleet -- wherein their drivers were not at fault -- Lane Steel began thinking about what the proper protocols should be, and on how the process might be made easier for everyone involved.
Lane Steel is an ISO 9001-compliant steel distributor and service center located in McKees Rocks, PA and servicing the area east of the Mississippi. That service area, combined with a large range of high-quality, flat-rolled sheet and coil steel products, means that Lane Steel constantly has fleet vehicles on the road -- and with a company culture that takes pride in safety, thinking about ways to improve their fleet accident protocol was important. Since they were already using CyntrX ELD across their fleet, and both admins and drivers were happy with it, Lane Steel reached out to Dylan Williams, our ELD Compliance Supervisor, for his thoughts and guidance on the matter.
Dylan, who is always ready and able to help with any ELD question, was likewise ready to help Lane Steel with a solution -- and working together with Dylan, Lane Steel was able to implement the following protocols and process.
Non-Injury Accident ELD Protocols
Because the insurance company will need as much information as possible, gathering and preserving all of that information is a consideration that’s secondary only to safety -- and that’s where Lane Steel puts the CyntrX ELD unit to use following a non-injury accident by providing the driver with two different options to do so.
The driver can add an Ad Hoc vehicle inspection, which allows them to log important information like the police report number, descriptions of vehicle damage, and the like.
The driver can also enter the “Options” menu and choose “Document.” This enables the camera, which allows the driver to visually capture and preserve any document that they feel is important, such as another driver’s insurance card.
Importantly, all of this information is added to the logs -- and when the driver certifies their logs, as they must do in any case, the information is sent to the portal, where the fleet manager has instant access to all of the information necessary for them to start the insurance claims process.
It’s a process that’s made simple by the CyntrX ELD’s capabilities -- and in its simplicity can help to ease the driver stress of making sure they’ve captured all important information, as well as to ease the burden for administrators on the backend as they deal with their own set of requirements.
Working with Lane Steel is always a pleasure -- and it’s also completely in line with our core value of always working with our customers to provide them with solutions that make the often-stressful job of fleet management a little easier. In addition to enabling accident protocols, Lane Steel also uses the CyntrX ELD platform to manage things like fuel receipts, driver breaks, daily equipment checklists, and more.
If you’d like to learn more about how our ELD solutions can help your fleet in a variety of ways, we’d love to hear more about the challenges you’re facing. Don’t hesitate to request a demo:
About Lane Steel Company
Lane Steel Company is an ISO 9001 Compliant steel service center located in McKees Rocks, PA and servicing the area east of the Mississippi. Lane Steel specializes in flat rolled Galvanized, Galvalume, Cold Roll, Hot Roll, Pickled and Oiled, and Painted Steel. Our large inventory offers master coil, slit coil, sheets and blanks in commercial and higher strength grades. You can learn more about Lane Steel at www.lanesteel.com, or by calling them directly at 412-777-1700.