By Kevin Reilly, Editorial Communications Manager, The CEI Group, Inc.

Driving down accident rates requires a great deal of time and patience, but what is a fleet manager to do when faced with the expectation of providing results within a single year? Typically, it takes at least three years for a fleet to bring their accident rates down by any significant measure. The long wait is not for lack of trying, but fleets need time to introduce training to their drivers in incremental stages. If training is overloaded, it would be foolish to expect the drivers to have a high retention rate for that knowledge.

This brings us to our biggest question: what is the best method to drive down accident rates with a lasting impact that can begin to take hold in the short term? We will start with short term solutions to pain points and work our way into methods that will help make training stick.

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By Mike Cieri, MSIR, Vice President of Mardac Consultants

Many organizational conflicts revolve around the differences that we see in the facts

Disagreements between people on what the facts are, are inevitable. Nevertheless, there is a common belief that “facts are facts.” When a dispute occurs, it should be simple to identify the “real” facts, accept them, act accordingly, and thus settle any differences. Yet the “facts” are not always that simple.

Many organizational conflicts revolve around the differences that we see in the facts. What lens are we looking through? What’s our perception?

Our perception is formed through basic characteristics that are inborn and/or that greatly affect how we are socialized. For example; Age, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Physical Abilities/Qualities, Intellect, and Sexual/Affectional Orientation. These are the characteristics that we are born with, they are at our core. The secondary dimension in forming our perception are those characteristics that are acquired and can modify throughout our life.

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The Detroit Bureau

With a presidential mandate aimed at government regulations, the new director of the Environmental Protection Agency is widely expected to roll back rules set during the Obama Administration that would boost automotive fuel economy standards to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.

Such a move would come in response to a written request by a consortium of automakers sent to the new White House last month. It warned that the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standard, as now written, would “depress an industry that can ill-afford spiraling regulatory costs.”

Proponents of the current fuel economy rules – which were crafted as part of a compromise between the Obama Administration and the auto industry – insist the costs cited by the industry are overblown, and that consumers want higher mileage and are willing to pay for it.

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AAA Newsroom

Three out of four U.S. drivers report feeling  “afraid” to ride in a self-driving car, according to a new survey from AAA. With today’s heightened focus on autonomous vehicles, this fear poses a potential concern to the automotive industry as consumers may be reluctant to fully embrace the self-driving car.

Despite this significant fear, AAA also found that drivers who own vehicles equipped with semi-autonomous features are, on average, 75 percent more likely to trust the technology than those that do not own it, suggesting that gradual experience with these advanced features can ease consumer fears.

“With the rapid advancement towards autonomous vehicles, American drivers may be hesitant to give up full control,” said John Nielsen, AAA’s managing director of Automotive Engineering and Repair.

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Detroit Free Press

Proposals for a border tax to pay for a wall with Mexico and encourage increased manufacturing in the U.S. would add hundreds to thousands of dollars to the cost of every car and truck sold here, including those assembled in American factories.

There’s even a risk the tax could raise prices and reduce sales so much that the U.S. loses manufacturing jobs, according to the Motor Equipment Manufacturers Association, the umbrella group for several supplier associations representing 1,000 companies.

Analysts, associations and experts say the tax could add $2,000 to $2,500 to the average cost of a vehicle sold in the U.S.

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The Car Connection

Without an internal combustion engine, without a transmission, without a radiator, tomorrow’s cars won’t need to look like the cars we know today.

What will they look like? Volkswagen says the self-driving cars of tomorrow won’t have angry, man-eating faces, for one.

At the 2017 Geneva motor show, Volkswagen rolled out its Sedric, its first fully electric, self-driving car concept. Capable of Level 5 autonomous driving, the Sedric maps out how Volkswagen will develop cars that can accelerate, brake, and steer themselves.

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Forbes

“Time is money” is an overused cliché.

Yet, in today’s hypercompetitive technology marketplace, it’s never been truer.

The most sophisticated CAD (Computer Aided Design), fluidynamics and crash simulation programs used by auto manufacturers cannot replace actual testing and the various stage gates in the large-scale manufacturing process, but that will soon change.

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The business social network offers user experience enhancements while bolstering tools to help amplify company brands

By Ed Pierce, Fleet Industry Marketer

According to a recent article by writer, editor, and marketer Kyle Harper, LinkedIn began rolling out a new, updated interface for its business-oriented platform in January, and it just beginning to gain the attention of B2B marketers and sales people.

Specifically, marketers and sales people now have access to expanded tools for improving their skills. For example, LinkedIn is conducting new research and making it available to members. Better yet, articles and posts coming through one’s news feed are easier to navigate.

A More Rewarding User Experience

Harper reports that LinkedIn has been subtly tweaked to make it more rewarding for users to share their thoughts and experiences. For example, tips for a profile offer quick descriptions of ways one can augment his or her profile (and, in some cases, explain how certain actions will help get more views, connections, and messages), while the content one shares is now given a prominent counter right next to the number of visits to the user profile. It’s clear that LinkedIn is interested in engaging more actively with the individuals on their platform, not just the companies they represent.

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Fleet managers keeping pace with a changing world face three stark new realities: tighter margins, stricter CO2 emissions legislation, and a growing need to prove environmental credentials during customer transactions. This has put greater pressure on fleet managers and changed the nature of the role they perform.

Thanks to independent research from Shell, we have a better view of the fuel management practices of fleet managers and drivers in the U.S. Our research gives us insight into what impacts fuel consumption, the greatest barriers to managing fuel more effectively, and solutions for how managers can manage fuel consumption more efficiently.

The Shell Fleet Navigator Card delivers fuel savings that allow fleet managers to drive smarter and improve bottom lines along the way. To learn more about the unprecedented control and customization that the Shell Fleet Navigator Card offers call 888-212-8916 or visit www.shell.us/fleetnavigator.

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Wired

Let’s say you’re driving down Main Street and your brakes give out.

As the terror hits, a gaggle of children spills out into the road. Do you A) swerve into Keith’s Frozen Yogurt Emporium, killing yourself, covering your car in toppings, and sparing the kids or B) assume they’re the Children of the Corn and just power through, killing them and saving your own life?

Any decent human would choose the former, of course, because even murderous kiddie farmers have rights.

But would a self-driving car make the right choice? Maybe yes.

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