Driving the GreenRoad to Safety

Clapping with one hand

1. You know the old twisty question… If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody hears it fall, did it make a sound?

How about taking this old saying and relating it about risk...  If a risk is there and nobody sees it, is it there at all?

Denying the undeniable.

The way the human mind works, risks can play some pretty clever tricks on us.  The world is full of varying levels of risk, and one can’t just walk around worrying about them all the time.  We go through high risk experiences and if nothing happens to us, we sometimes interpret it as proof that the risk is minor and manageable.  However, risk size is not the determining factor of whether an “event” occurs or not..  Don’t confuse luck with facts.

Take for example the famous incident of the space shuttle Columbia and the faulty O-Rings.  There was a lot of talk in NASA at the time about the O-Rings and their sensitivity to low temperatures.  The matter was discussed many times and was even the topic of a late night conference call before the day of the launch.  There are many organizational, behavioral and engineering reasons that all contributed to the catastrophic explosion.  However, one of the key facts that caused NASA to make the wrong decision (launch with suspicious o-rings as opposed to delaying the launch until the o-rings issue was fixed) was the fact that a few space missions had taken off successfully with the faulty o-rings in the past.  Suddenly the risk was assessed as minor and manageable because no incident had occurred in the past. The reality was that a disaster was waiting to happen.

It’s built into the system.

Imagine the human body.  Many of the diseases or illnesses we may suffer from in  the future already exist within our bodies.  As we get older, because of other health issues, nutrition, stress, etc. , these sleepy agents spring to life and become active.

The same thing happens in complex systems involving technology, software, hardware, machinery, engineering, design and people.  The seeds or agents of disaster are built into the system.  In a well designed system they are all at check.  However, should something happen to tip the scales, the whole system can spin out of control and “potential” risk becomes very real.

The fact that the systems or experiences we go through in life started and ended smoothly and without a hitch should not mislead us to believe they are not full of hidden risks.  The key to reduce and avoid risk is to keep a few steps ahead of the game.  Know which levels of risks are involved and what agents are waiting in the shadows can help you be more prepared to maintain a safe system.

What could possibly go wrong?

Take the everyday act of driving as an example.  We drive every day, mostly on the same routes we know by heart.  Cars are relatively safe and the roads are well maintained.  Roundabouts, road signs, street lights and a multitude of other pieces of equipment and engineering are all there to help the traffic move swiftly and safely.  It seems pretty safe.

That is true for as long as everything works.  But should one component in the system break out of line - say the car in front of me suddenly stops in the middle of the highway - and I did not keep a safe distance, the situation changes and deteriorates quite rapidly. 

A host of hidden agents spring into action and attack the system. Suddenly that passenger in the back sit that didn’t put his seat belt on becomes a one-ton weight flying inside the car.  Suddenly those old tires that you know you had to change couldn’t provide enough grip and maintain a short stopping distance.  All of a sudden the driver behind you that knew he was tired, but still decided to keep on driving, couldn’t quite react in time.

The risks are built into the system.  The agents are all there.  A little bit of carelessness combined with a deviation from the norm, and havoc breaks loose.

Naturally we can’t walk around all day worrying about these things, but we do need to know they are there.  We need to enjoy the safety of the systems around us, but at the same time be mindful of their complexity and possibilities of a sudden meltdown.

In such complex systems in which we live, what can we do to keep ahead of the game?

1. Keep a safe distance
2. Read the traffic: Pay attention to those around you and ahead of you to identify risky situations at an early stage
3. Avoid pushing the envelope
4. Leave yourself enough time to react
5. Don’t fall into the trap of believing that because you got away with it once, it’s safe to repeat
6. Remember the o rings!

Drive safely, it’s worth it,

Hod Fleishman,

Founder and Senior Vice President of Business Development, Green Road

RIP PAYD

Rest in Peace Pay As You Drive.  You were a necessary step in the evolution of insurance. A number of insurance companies experimenting with PAYD have recently dropped their projects.  Some of which were quite large.  These projects had to take place; the first movers who have spent time, resources and money should be congratulated for their efforts: moving closer to find the insurer’s holy grail. Using technology and real time information to proactively identify a high risk driver and reduce his or her risk.

So why drop these projects? What have these insurers found that made them understand a shift in direction is needed?  Why doesn’t PAYD work? As in most complex situations the solution is in the right mix.  To successfully leverage real time data to improve risk assessment and drive risk down, the following need to be in place:

1.       Robust and proven technology creating a cost effective data stream..

2.       ..Which needs to provide higher correlation to risk than existing tools..

3.       .. and can also be used to drive effective behavior changing feedback to drivers..

4.       .. on a platform and with a value proposition drivers will want to use.

The PAYD models experimented with until today do not check the above boxes.  The most important of the above is point number four, user acceptance.  As the companies experimenting with PAYD have found out a product which is not supported by the end users will not take off the ground, regardless of what valuable information it provides the insurance company.

There is an old joke about a group of sales people that met to figure out why the canned dog food they are selling is not being purchased by dog owners.  One sales person claimed the package wasn’t attractive enough.  Another said the price was wrong, and a third claimed marketing was not effective.  Finally, one of the sales person rose to his feet a said, guys, the dogs.. They just don’t like it..

And in the case of PAYD, the “dogs” just did not like it.  Following up on where and when you drive, has proven to be just too much for the average person’s appetite.    Also, knowing a drivers risk is just part of the equation.  The real benefit lies in helping a high risk driver reduce or completely eliminate his risk. 

In a PAYD model this requires drivers to modify when and where they drive;  for most of  us this is blasphemy.  I own a car, and purchase insurance, so I can drive where and when I want. As some drivers commented in interviews after being approached to join a PAYD/let me know where you drive project, they will not share their whereabouts for any discount in the world.  Other drivers realized that opting for PAYD is actually more expensive than ordinary insurance as they could be panelized for collecting many miles or driving at the “wrong” hours, regardless of whether they drive safely or not.  And when the dogs don’t like the dog food, the dog food will just not sell.

This reminds me of another old story.  A person lost his keys on the dark end of the street, but was looking for them on the other side of the street that was lit by a shop window. “Why are you looking for your keys here, if you lost them there” asks his surprised friend.  “Well”, he answers, “this is where the light is – it’s easier to look”.

The first insurance companies, who opted for PAYD, have been looking in the wrong and easy place; wrong technology, wrong data stream.  It is relatively easy to pull location, mileage and length of trips information from vehicles.  But how valuable is it?  Are they strong indicators of driver risk, and can this data stream help modifying driver behavior?  Looking at the PAYD program to date being pulled off the shelves, provides a negative on both.

In order to have both insurers and end users such as teens, parents or other drivers embrace the power offered by driver behavior based technologies we need to provide all users with a solid value proposition.  We need to be able to provide insurers with data and processes that can help identify driver risk prior to a crash and help drivers reduce their risk.  We need to provide clients with a safety service they will want to use.  All is possible today. And no, you do not need to track where I go and when in order to do so.

Driver risk is the direct outcome of a driver’s attitude to driving and his driving skill.  The reason teen drivers are such high risk is not because of the multiple miles they drive.  On the contrary, driving instructors will claim they are not driving enough and not practicing enough.  Teen drivers are high risk because of the deadly combo of low skill and wrong attitudes. If we want to identify who is a high risk driver there is no need to collect exposure data, which incidentally, even when possible to collect, tends to upset the end user.  To identify a driver’s risk, we need powerful tools that can identify and evaluate his driving behavior more than his exposure.  Only this will reveal what is the true risk of the driver, regardless if he is driving one hour a week, or 20 hours a day. 

There is another benefit for taking the behavior route as opposed to the exposure data route.  Not only is driver behavior data more indicative of driver risk and thus provides higher value to the insurance company, it also provides insight into what specifically is risky in the way an individual driver drives.  This knowledge enables us to provide the driver with prescriptive guidance guiding him towards safer driving.  Repeat – guiding him towards safer driving as opposed to limiting or taxing his mobility.

PAYD was a necessary step in the direction of figuring out how to use data generated by the driver to identify and minimize risk.  The experiment is over and we can now move to the next step.  The future is in being able to help drivers become safer as opposed to limiting their driving.  Letting drivers manage their own safety without hurting their mobility.  Supporting, highlighting and benefiting safe driving behavior.  Once the drivers are happy with the solution provided to them, crashes will be reduced, and the wise insurer will remain competitive. 

Drive safely, it’s worth it,

Hod Fleishman

Founder and Senior Vice President of Business Development, Green Road.

The fuel of life

   Wouldn’t it be great to wake up one morning and find a fully functional and productive oil well, comfortably located in your backyard?  Until recently, unless your back yard was thousands of miles of sand dunes, the chances of this happening were quit slim.  However, do not lose faith on this dream – it may just come true. 

Opportunity is knocking; no – forget knocking, opportunity is slamming on the door.  The frame is about to crack and the hinges can hardly stand the pressure.  The prime source for energy in our world, the one driving the wheels of our cars and essentially of our economy, is about to change.  And when energy sources are changing, new opportunities reveal themselves.

There is a very good chance you can significantly improve your life and discover a pot of gold at the same time.  The irony of it all is that this double treasure was yours all along.  It is circumstance that helps to highlight it and place a large “X” over its location, just for you.

It’s no secret that the chase for a replacement for fossil fuel is on.  Inventors are busy coming up with new ideas and corporations are hiring the best minds in the market to crack the code of the next energy source.  Venture capitals are investing heavily in what could potentially be the next form of energy to keep our wheels turning.

And here’s what’s interesting: While the need for a replacement source of energy is current and immediate, all  of the solutions discussed will only mature in the future.  Maybe it will be wind power or solar.  It could even be corn, sugar or some bio mix created in a lab.  We just don’t know yet.  Each solution has its ups and downs.  Some sources can produce the energy but are bad for the environment.  Others are good for the environment but are not reliable.  The search is still on.  While we are busy coming up with future solutions, we should also spend time looking for solutions that can be available, well, now. 

Because whether you own just one car, or a whole fleet of cars, you could really use a solution right now that will help decrease your fuel spend. Imagine cutting your fuel cost by just 5%; what would that do to your bottom line?

Barrels are at $150, some say prices will go up as high as $250 in the near future.  I don’t care about corn, wind or electricity.  These solutions will take years to develop, test and turn into marketable products. Like you, I would really like to see a solution that will relieve my spending pain now!

Two birds with one stone

It turns out that while we are waiting for all of the future fuel technologies to evolve and mature, we can actually save a considerable amount of fuel and money by just watching the way we drive.   A few years back I visited a factory in the UK, one of the largest beverage distributors there. An aggressive CFO decided he is going to cut fuel costs.  His plan was simple.  First he measured the average MPG of the fleet drivers.  Next he moved to penalize all the drivers whose MPG was worse than the average.  He provided incentives to the drivers that managed to beat the MPG.  As you can imagine, this plan captured everybody’s attention and raised awareness in drivers to be cautious about the way they drive.

Walking in between the company’s trucks and eighteen wheelers I asked the drivers with the best MPG to explain how they managed to increase their fuel efficiency.  Here’s what they said:

1.       Very moderate accelerations

2.       Take your time to get to the speed you plan to travel in

3.       Stick to the speed limit, wherever you are.  If the sign says 35, then 35 it is.

4.       Read the road ahead. Is that light red? No rush to get to the junction

5.       Produce a smooth and moderate drive as much as possible

6.       Don’t idle your vehicle.  Vehicle is parked? Engine is off.

These tips, spoken from true professionals, are very interesting.  First, because they managed to improve MPG by sticking to them, and second (or first, depending on how you prioritize things) because when we interviewed then, they tended to list the same tips for safe driving!

Good MPG, it turns out, is good safety as well.  We have been checking this for a long time, and it’s a fact.  The drivers who crash less are the ones burning less fuel.

So if you are after improved MPG, if you want to start digging for your own treasure to find a secret source of money planted right in your back yard, start driving moderately.  Make sure your drivers are driving moderately.  You’ll will hit two birds with one stone:

·         Improved MPG

·         Improved safety

Drive safely, it’s worth it.

Hod Fleishman,

Founder and SVP of BD

GreenRoad

This was no boating accident

Jaws.  What a classic.  Seen by all, feared by all, remembered by all.  The classic battle between man and beast.  It’s also the classic battle between man and his own disbeliefs, regardless of how much evidence is at hand.  Rewind to 1975.  You are young and glued to the screen –a real screen that is, not your personal 45 inch flat HD TV. You are also wearing colorful bell bottom pants, which could be more frightening than the movie.).  Around you are people all watching the same movie; you don’t know them, but that was the way it was in ’75.  Strangers entered the same large room and watched movies together.  Sometimes they even watched movies from inside their cars (but that’s a topic for a future blog.)

The action: Nighttime, a lonely swimmer enters the water, only to be attacked, by you know who.  Faced with the horrifying results, the incident is dismissed as a “boating accident”. Do the islanders get the message and act to prevent another death? Nope, (if they would have, this could have been a very short and uninteresting documentary) lured by the coming summer business, mayor et el refuse to close the beach.  A second attack does not wait for an invitation, and you know who gets to have his human breakfast.

A local fisherman, Quint, names a high price for riding the island from the threat – but again, no one is willing to pay the price, or deal with the now very obvious problem.  An expert arrives at the island (young Richard Dreyfuss) and after segmenting the inside of an innocent tiger shark caught by over enthusiastic fisherman, proves to the locals that while they have caught one of the “usual suspects” – it is not at fault.   Blame is elsewhere. 

Oh, and then, the best line ever spoken on the silver screen.  Better than “Bring in the usual suspects”, better then “May the force be with you”, better then “Frankly my dear I don’t...”  my all time favorite: “This was no boating accident!”

Somehow, every time I enter another fleet that is yet to implement an effective driver safety management program, the scene with old Quint, jumps into mind.  Actually the whole story board jumps into mind.  It’s like watching Jaws over and over again for free.  Fleet operators and managers are aware of risks.  But all too often, time, budget and internal red tape blind their eyes, just like the coming tourists blinded our poor old mayor in the movie.  All too often, instead of spending the time and finding the real killer, more “swimmers” are thrown into the water to feed the hungry beast. 

“This was a boating accident” is the equivalent of the all too familiar “this is how I found the car (when I returned from shopping)” and every fleet manager will know what I am talking about.  The fact that drivers feel free to come up with such nonsense has to do with the environment in which they live and operate.  In a town where the mayor would rather have bathers risk themselves than deal with the real problem, let’s not be surprised that bathers are eaten alive in the shallow water.

This was no boating accident, and that smashed piece of metal in the parking lot was not a car accident.  Crash is the term used by the experts, and for a good reason.  An accident, by default, could not have been prevented.  And I hope that by now all of us know that all but the most bizarre car crashes, can be prevented.  So, this was no boating accident.  And that my friends, was no car accident.  It was a crash.

Ready to be your own island hero? Eager to receive the Oscar for safety?  Well, it can be done! And you don’t even have to leave the shore, and wet your feet in order to kill the beast.  As the format of world blogs demand, I thank you for making it all the way to the end of this piece, and I will reward you with five easy steps that should turn you into a local legend:

1.       Be a hero.  Select a good and effective fleet safety management solution; search the market, there are good solutions out there.  All hero’s start acting on their own.

2.       Be a leader.  Find the right people in your company and get them on the same page.  Change can be made.  Lives can be saved.  Operating costs will go down.  The marketing people will jump up and down with joy as you feed them the good news about how safe and environmentally friendly your company is.  Who should you focus on? Health and Safety manager, Procurement manager, HR, Finances, Safety VP’s, CEO…

3.       Be an Oscar winner.  Write the full script.  Don’t just walk in there with an interesting story to tell.  Build a plan and (planning is the key to genius) make sure you can make an effective case.  Ask and answer the right questions. What is our risk today? How much are we losing? Whatwhat is our potential liability? What solutions are out there? How much do they cost? How and how much risk will they reduce?

4.     Be a believer.  Know this, to get an entire island of bathers out of the water during the height of the summer season is almost as hard as… well, getting people to drive safely.  But that only means that once you get it done, you are an exceptional, one of a kind, hero.  So don’t lose faith, with the right solution at hand you will not only get them out of the water, you will also kill the beast, and teach the entire island how to swim safely.

5.       Be a farmer.  A farmer? Yes sir! You know.  The guy that wakes up early and gets the job done.  Or a fisherman, the kind that catches sharks and ends up being the local hero.

Have any better ideas of how to catch a shark? Or prevent an accident? Write to me, I just love fishing stories,

Safe Sailing, it’s worth it,

Hod Fleishman

 

---