In force since the beginning of April 2005, the Road Transport Directive introduced new laws to regulate drivers’ weekly working hours. Drivers of commercial vehicles are now limited to working a maximum of 60 hours in a week, but an average of only 48 hours.
By accessing RTDTrac, through the Xda IIis and O2’s GPRS network, Meachers maximises the time its drivers can work, providing real time management information to traffic planners via the internet. To date, the new software is saving the company over £15,000 a year in administrative costs alone. The Xda IIi also provides additional benefits including a camera to record incidents and all the functionality expected from a high-end mobile phone.
RTDTrac allows Meachers’ drivers to precisely record their working time, driving time, periods of availability and rest periods using the O2 XDA IIi. This information is then sent via O2’s GPRS network and stored on a central server. The information collected is instantly available to drivers, allowing them to better manage their own time and help them comply with working time and drivers’ hours legislation.
Meachers can now access the information when it needs to plan the drivers’ workloads, comply with the law and, critically, improve the management of drivers’ time thereby boosting productivity. The company has instructed drivers to record all delays and periods of availability, which over a 17 or 26 week reference period may allow a driver to work extra days.
Chris Hodgson, General Manager at Meachers Transport, said: “With a large screen and an intuitive interface, O2’s Xdas provide the ideal platform for RTDTrac. Working together with O2 has allowed us to minimise what could have been a very costly and administratively intensive piece of legislation. We were naturally attracted to O2 because of its extensive GPRS coverage, which means we can be kept continually up to date with our drivers’ working hours.”
Ben Dowd, General Manager, Business Sales at O2 added, “Our modern world is incredibly dependent on the free flow of goods. RTDTrac is an excellent example of how innovative mobile technology is critical to ensuring that haulage companies can keep their drivers working efficiently, while still complying with legislation.”