A growing body of research shows that air inside vehicle cabins poses a potentially serious health problem for drivers. The UK-based purification technology company Airlabs says it offers a solution that eliminates the problem and reduces operating costs.

By Andrew Boada, Editor At Large

In recent years, a growing area of interest in air pollution research has been air pollution inside the cabins of vehicles, and what these researchers have found isn’t good. In spite of existing cabin air filters that are standard equipment, it turns out that pollution levels in the air we breathe while we’re behind the wheel may at times far exceed the limits beyond which health problems are likely to occur.

That’s a potential problem for fleets, especially those whose drivers spend long hours in their vehicles. Given the link between employee health, workplace accident rates, business operating costs, and overall productivity, it’s not hard to see how air pollution becomes a source of operating cost.

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By Ed Pierce, Fleet Industry Marketer

Last month, I wrote about the differences between demand generation and lead generation, which are often used interchangeably despite significant differences.

Demand generation requires that the sales team converts product or service interest into demand. Possible marketing tactics that support a demand generation strategy include Inbound and website marketing, content marketing, content syndication, event marketing, social media marketing, paid advertising, lead nurturing, scoring and marketing automation, and various sales/marketing alignment activities, such as sales enablement.

Lead generation is best seen as a sub-category of demand generation. It is the practice of collecting information on targeted individuals that can then be used to qualify and nurture prospects into sales-ready leads, pipeline opportunities and eventually customers.

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An NSC survey carried out in 2017 found that 43% of Americans reported not getting enough sleep to mitigate the impact on critical work and road safety risks, including the ability to think clearly, make informed decisions, and be productive

By Jim Noble, VP of Risk Engineering, eDriving

It only seems like yesterday that we were celebrating the start of 2019 and already spring is just around the corner. The good news is that the evenings will soon be lighter for longer. The bad news is that we lose an hour of sleep on the day we begin daylight saving time (DST), and that can have a big impact on crash risk.

As we look ahead to the start of DST on Sunday March 10 (March 31 in the UK), it’s important to be aware of the effect the “clock change” can have on driver safety. Missing just one hour of sleep might seem trivial but studies have shown that “springing forward” one hour at the beginning of DST has a significant impact on traffic collisions.

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The New York Times

Drivers can forget to shut off a keyless vehicle, because as the name infers, there is no physical key to turn.

Some motorists, particularly older ones, have inadvertently left cars with the engine running in garages attached to homes, which have filled up with carbon monoxide and poisoned occupants, often while they slept.

Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal introduced a bill, supported by General Motors, that would direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to adopt a rule requiring automakers to include a feature that automatically shuts off an engine after a specified period of idling.

Read the article at The New York Times.

USA Today

The Governors Highway Safety Association reported that the number of pedestrian deaths involving SUVs increased by 50 percent from 2013 through 2017.

That reflects booming sales of SUVs and the fact that pedestrians are much less likely to survive the impact of an SUV.

Other factors contributing to the increase may include additional people walking to work, insufficient pedestrian road crossings, speeding, drowsy driving, drinking and population growth in certain areas. Distracted driving and distracted walking are also widely believed to be factors, though experts say they are hard to prove.

Read the article at USA Today.

Bloomberg

Over the next three years, Germany’s automotive industry will invest over 40 billion euros ($45 billion) in electric vehicles, tripling the number of models.

The plan is pivotal to reach ambitious goals in the European Union to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and requires the expansion of charging infrastructure. “The ramp-up of electric mobility is coming in Europe. This also demands the appropriate regulatory conditions — right across Europe,” said VDA President Bernhard Mattes

Read the article at Bloomberg.

Fortune

America simply doesn’t have enough truck drivers to deliver everything its people buy.

That’s not new, but many retailers are just now feeling the pain as annual shipping contracts are renewed. That has trucking companies scrambling to find ways to keep costs down.

“Millennials, they don’t want to drive trucks,” said Darren Tristano, CEO and founder of consultant Foodservice Results. “They’re looking at this and saying, ‘I want to be in something more glamorous, more tech-oriented.’”

Read the article at Fortune.

Fleet World

By Jonathan Musk

Four in five fleet managers are failing to realize the benefit of Big Data according to Shell’s latest report ‘Driven by Data: Managing Fleet Information Overload’, which reveals the power of unlocking Big Data.

Fleet managers could decrease overtime by 10–15%; reduce vehicle idle time by 20–30%; and cut total miles driven by 5-10% with effective use of Big Data

The news comes despite experts estimating potential cost savings of 3% by 2025 if Big Data is used properly, in addition to 40% of fleet managers who told the recent Shell Power of Data survey that using technology to improve efficiency was a top priority for them in 2018.

Read the article at fleetworld.co.uk

Bloomberg

Owning an automobile is falling out of favor in cities around the world as ride-hailing and other new transportation options proliferate and concerns over gridlock and pollution spark a reevaluation of privately owned wheels.

A decade ago the auto industry predicted annual global vehicle sales would top 100 million by now, but they’ve stalled instead, falling to 94.2 million last year, down 1 million from 2017.

“I would never go back to owning a car,” says Larry Kim, chief executive officer of MobileMonkey Inc., a Facebook Messenger marketing platform, who says he’s recovered an hour a day by not driving. “Your time is not free, right? Your time is worth more than $20 an hour. So in my case, why not spend $15,000 to $20,000 a year to get all of that time saved?”

Read the article at Bloomberg.

Business Insider

The founders of the ride-sharing app Lyft, Logan Green and John Zimmer believe that car ownership is in permanent decline and they want to help it die.

“We believe that the world is at the beginning of a shift away from car ownership to Transportation-as-a-Service, or TaaS. Lyft is at the forefront of this massive societal change,” they told investors. “Car ownership has economically burdened consumers. US households spend more on transportation than on any expenditure other than housing. ”

Read the article at Business Insider.