Electronic Score Cards Help Maintenance and Safety

In Module 3, you learned how EOBRs make drivers accountable for doing a trip inspection. These devices also produce a “score card,” that reports on different driving habits.

“This machine also allows us to get a scorecard for the drivers. So if I have a hundred different drivers driving down the road, I [can find out] on that scorecard if the guy’s riding the clutch, if he’s pushing his brake too hard, if he’s using too many brakes…if he’s using a spike, which is just the trailer brakes… instead of using all the brakes properly. His speed. Everything is added into this little score card.”

Some driving habits put more wear and tear on your vehicles. The score cards can help you monitor these habits and help your vehicles last.

Compare the scores for drivers driving the same truck. The scores should be very close.
If the scores are not close, compare them. Why does one driver have a bad score and another driver a good score?

Analyze the score card. Find out where the driver can improve. Then, teach better driving habits. What happened when Wayne Dubeau's company started using the score cards to monitor driving?

“Now our maintenance program goes way down. Not only are the owners happy because they’re saving… money on the maintenance on the brakes or whatever it may be, the driver is also driving more professionally and safer. … There’s a benefit to the driver, not only by being able to drive safer, but maybe there’s a carrot to stick out there. If you’ve got the best score, or in the best ten in the company this week, then you get… a free meal, whatever… any company can do that, they can set the bar for drivers to monitor themselves.  ‘Hey, I wanna be the guy in the top ten.’ All of a sudden our scores are getting better for the whole company, for the whole industry… [and that leads to] a lot less accidents, a lot less deaths.”