If you’re in the market for a new vehicle, you should consider one that has active safety systems. These days, manufacturers are creating vehicles with systems that could help you mitigate or avoid an accident in all different types of situations like backing out in a busy parking lot, changing lanes into an undetected vehicle in your blind spot or closing in on another vehicle too fast.

Some main active safety systems are:

1. Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB): Detects possible accidents while traveling forward, offers forward crash warning and applies the brakes automatically to lessen or avoid the severity of the crash. Certain systems also include object or pedestrian detection.
2. Forward crash Warning (FCW): Detects impending crashes while traveling forward and will alert the driver. Certain systems include object or pedestrian detection.
3. High-Speed Automatic Emergency Braking (HAEB): The brakes are applied automatically to decrease the severity of crash when traveling at highway speeds.
4. City Automatic Emergency Braking (CAEB): The brakes are applied automatically to reduce the severity of a crash or prevent a crash when traveling at city speed.
5. Lane Departure Warning (LDW): Monitors the position of your vehicle within the driving lane and will alert the driver as the vehicle crosses or approaches lane markers.
6. Pedestrian Detection (PD): Detects pedestrians, then will provide a warning as well as trigger emergency braking automatically, if needed. Certain systems can also detect cyclists.
7. Lane Keeping Assistance (LKA): Helps to keep the vehicle within t
8. he driving lane by assisting with steering.
9. Blind Spot Warning (BSW): Will detect any vehicles to rear in adjacent lanes while you drive and alert you to their presence.
10. Rear Automatic Emergency Braking (REAR AEB): Will detect possible crash while traveling in reverse and apply the brakes automatically to lessen the severity of or avoid impact. Certain systems offer object or pedestrian detection.
11. Rear Cross Traffic Warning (RCTW): Will detect vehicles approaching from the rear and side of your vehicle while traveling in reverse and will alert you.

Each manufacturer will have their own offering of these active safety systems and their own terms. To help interpret each manufacturer’s offerings, Consumer Reports compiled a table showing the available advanced systems and features with certain common names.

You might not realize this, but GPS tracking could also be a safety feature, especially with teenage drivers with harsh braking and speeding alerts. GPS tracking can also benefit fleet management as well since it alerts fleet managers of poor fleet driving behaviors, which include the same harsh braking and speeding, along with excessive idling.

According to AAA, you’ll find no relief at the gas pumps these days. Prices of gas are rising continuously across the United States. In fact, $2.77 a gallon is the national average price for gas which went up five cents since last week. The average about a year ago was $2.39 a gallon and the average in New York State is about $2.83 a gallon; also up five cents from the following week. AAA says the rising gas prices are because of increasing crude prices, a tightening of gas supplies,  and an increase in gas demand.

Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddy analyst, debated that the pump price is skyrocketing because of not just increased demand, but also because the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) isn’t opening the spigot.

How Fleets Can Reduce Fuel Costs

Today, most truck fleets aren’t using a fuel purchase optimization system, despite diesel rising past $3.00 a gallon in certain locations. Believe it or not, saving just a few more pennies on fuel each day here and there can really quickly add up. There are also steps you can take as a fleet manager to help reduce fuel costs, including:

1. Teach and Enforce Fuel-Efficient Driving Behaviors

When it comes to fuel efficiency, your driver’s driving behaviors cost more than you might realize. Safe drivers following the road rules who don’t speed and avoid aggressive driving behavior will save your fleet business a lot of money in terms of fuel costs. It might take some time to ingrain these good driving behaviors that will net the biggest savings. But it worth doing it.

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Prompt deliveries improve customer satisfaction to a large degree. Believe it or not, your only option for improving the speed of your deliveries is not to hire more delivery drivers for your business. In fact, there are seven ways you can boost speed without bringing a single new person into the fold. Here’s what you need to know.

1. Reduce Paperwork for Drivers

This one adjustment can make huge changes to the efficiency of drivers and help save massive time between deliveries. Plus, it spares you the need to store and manage countless unessential documents for your business. The more you can digitize and process paperwork electronically, the more time it stands to save.

2. Use GPS Fleet Tracking to Optimize Routes

Route optimization is one of the most important things you can do to find extra time in your day to keep your delivery schedules on time and on target. This eliminates double coverage and coverage gaps ensuring that the deliveries scheduled are more likely to happen on time.

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