Consistent with our People First and Safety Focus Guiding Principles, Ruan has developed a Video Safety Program, where we are installing Lytx’s innovative DriveCam video recording devices in every Ruan owned and controlled vehicle. Under our VSP, we are outfitted all of our semi-trucks, straight trucks, maintenance vehicles, and company cars with inward- and outward-facing event recorders. Installation of the DriveCam system began in December 2020 and continues in a phased implementation for all Ruan operations, which is to be completed by mid-2021.
Ruan is deploying DriveCam technology as part of our Megasafe Safety Program, which empowers our people to build on a safety culture that spans Ruan’s many divisions and teams. Through the Megasafe program, Ruan ensures team members have the safest equipment, most advanced onboard technology, and ongoing training and guidance.
Several factors contributed to Ruan’s decision to deploy a Video Safety Program. It helps prevent injuries and save lives. It increases safety recognition, awareness, and performance. It helps protect the driver, the Ruan brand, and our customers’ brands. And, continuous improvement of our safety performance is an expectation of our customers.
“This decision was driven by Ruan’s unwavering commitment to provide the safest workplace in our industry, especially as our team members navigate roadways occupied by an increasingly distracted motoring public,” said Ruan's Senior Vice President of Safety, Compliance, and Support Services Chad Willis. “It was also motivated by the obligation and privilege we enjoy enhancing and protecting our customers’ brands.”
Ruan’s operations managers use video footage to recognize and celebrate our drivers for positive safety performance, as well as coach drivers on potentially unsafe behaviors identified when the device is triggered. Team members use this information to improve upon behaviors over time, allowing Ruan to provide more reliable, safer service to our customers.
Ruan is also committed to ensuring the devices are used in a way that is respectful of our professional drivers and their workspaces. We are not able to access the inward-facing view other than when a 12-second clip is triggered by a safety event such as a following distance alert, lane departure, talking on a cell phone, or not wearing a seat belt.
"Lytx technology helps give us visibility to the challenges our team members are facing and, in turn, coach them as necessary to reduce risk, prevent accidents, and save lives. We are also able to recognize them for reacting in the most professional ways to the unsafe actions of others sharing the roadways," Willis said. "There is nothing more important to us than ensuring our people get home safely, and Lytx is helping this happen in a way that is respectful of our team members’ privacy in their workspaces.”
Lytx is a leading provider of machine vision and artificial intelligence-powered video telematics, analytics, safety, and productivity solutions for commercial, public sector, and field service fleets. Lytx SF300 DriveCam Event Recorders pair machine vision with artificial intelligence (MV+AI) to accurately identify and categorize moments that matter on the road, including distracted driving. The most recent update includes triggers for “inattentiveness,” when a driver’s attention may be unfocused or they may be experiencing drowsiness, as well as real-time, in-cab alerts for five different risky driving behaviors: cell phone use, eating and drinking, smoking, no seat belt, speeding, and inattentiveness.
“My general reaction at first was that I would not like DriveCam. I thought it would be like big brother always looking over my shoulder, but now that it’s been in the truck for a while, it’s not a bad system. You don’t even really know it’s there,” said professional driver Timmy Davis. “It makes me more aware of what I’ve been doing—stuff that I may have been too complacent on. This brings me back into check. My coach simply shows me a video, we chat about it, and it just opens my eyes to what’s happening on the road.”