Apple Maps and Siri Will Combine to Let You Report Problems on the Road
Coming this spring in iOS 4.5 and rolling out to beta users of iOS right now is a new feature in Apple Maps that allows drivers to tell Siri about road conditions without taking their hands or eyes off the road.
The new feature will work in both the Apple Maps application on the phone and via CarPlay. Drivers can say "Hey Siri" and share incidents using several different phrases. After an incident has been cleared, Siri can also be used to inform Apple Maps that it's no longer an issue.
For users of the Waze navigation app, these types of alerts along their routes are old hat. What Apple is doing is integrating it directly into its own app so that the incidents can be shared via Siri without the need to interact with the application with anything beyond their voice.
Read the article at Car and Driver.
Wheels Inc. & OnStar Partner to Extend Vehicle Connectivity Services
Wheels and OnStar are working together to enable their mutual fleet customers to access a wide array of vehicle information, which will offer critical insights and opportunities to improve driver behavior and vehicle utilization.
Women at Greater Risk of Injury, Death Than Men in Car Crashes — Here’s a Look at Why
We've known for a while that women are at greater risk of injury in car crashes than men. A new Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study sheds more light on why that may be the case, and one factor is vehicle size. Women tend to drive smaller cars, and men tend to drive larger ones.
The IIHS analyzed data from police-reported accidents in 1998-2015, and found some revealing statistics. Women were three times as likely to suffer moderate injury, described as a concussion or broken bone, in a frontal collision than men. They were also twice as likely as men to sustain serious injuries, for example a collapsed lung or traumatic brain injury.
The IIHS determined that one explanation for these findings was the fact that, in these accident reports, 70 percent of the women were in passenger cars. while only 60 percent of men were. On the flip side, 20 percent of men were in pickups, compared to only 5 percent of women. Minivans and SUVs had a 50/50 split between men and women. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any distinction made between unibody and ladder-frame SUVs.
Read the article at Autoblog.
Driving Alongside the Other Guy!
Have you noticed an increase in aggressive driving in your neighborhood? Here in the San Francisco Bay Area where I live, we are stunned by the instances we see of speeding and downright scary lane changes.
Art Liggio writes a perfectly timed column about what is causing this risky behavior that is costing lives during this horrid pandemic.He says, "Now is the perfect time to plan and reboot your driver safety training initiatives. A significant focus should on dealing with the other guy."
FMW talked with Nocell executives Corey Woinarowicz and Connor Palumbo about distracted driving and, of course, the company’s solution. Just having a cell phone policy restricting use while driving is not a defense if there’s a crash and it comes down to distracted driving. Woinarowicz warns, “It’s more damaging to have a cell phone policy and not enforce it than to not have a cell phone policy at all.”
Last thing: If you have a work truck fleet, you will not want to miss the virtual Work Truck Week 2021 -- March 8-12!
Drive safety and stay well!
Janice Sutton
Editor in Chief
Fleet Logistics Scales Up Global Mobility Solutions Business
Fleet Logistics Group, Europe's largest independent fleet management company, has scaled up its Global Mobility Solutions division (GMS) as part of its plans to transition from pure fleet management provider to offering new Managed Mobility Solutions to its clients and prospects.
Head of GMS, Thibault Alleyn, has appointed Madelaine Webster, formerly of Fleet Logistics UK and Ireland, to the newly created role of Global Consulting Manager, as the division accelerates growth plans following a spike in business levels and growing market interest during the pandemic.
GMS, which was created last autumn, brings together the expertise and market intelligence of Fleet Logistics’ consulting team with the data management and analytical skills of its international reporting team.
