It’s 3 a.m… Do You Know The Status of Your Trucks and Trailers?

The 2021 Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) recently took place on May 4th through 6th. Each year, North American law enforcement has an emphasis on a certain area. This year it was lighting and hours of service. During this time each year, commercial motor vehicle inspectors conduct inspections on commercial motor vehicles and drivers.

If you’re an over-the-road (OTR) trucking manager, you probably already have an electronic logging device (ELD) with driver vehicle inspection reports (DVIR) in place. If so, you should be fine. However, there are many ELD’s that do not have a DVIR in place or that just barely comply with the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) rule.

Gain Peace of Mind for Your Fleet

The upcoming Roadcheck got me thinking about all the things a trucking company and trucking manager deals with on a day-to-day basis. Safety, maintenance, fuel prices, tight schedules, and more. What a stressful and chaotic operation!

When one of your drivers gets pulled over, a litany of questions run through their heads. And ultimately, as the trucking manager, it’s YOU that is responsible. For example:

1. Is my health card up to date?
2. Do I have my insurance?
3. Did I get that clearance light fixed on the trailer?
4. Oh crap! I totally forgot about the trailer’s inspection.

It’s easy to prioritize the truck first because everyone’s focus, from maintenance, to upper management, to the law. The truck takes priority.

Unfortunately, what is easily forgotten in the daily chaos of trucking operations is any thought of the trailers. After all, there is so much you and your drivers have to think about so you don’t get pulled off the road and shut down. It’s hard to keep track of everything.

Global GPS tracking devices can help ease the burden of remembering everything on your plate at once. So even when trucks take first priority, you have peace of mind that your trailers are accounted for, too.

Asset Tracking with GPS Monitoring Systems

So, once you’ve installed the global GPS tracking devices on your trailers, how do you manage them? For many fleet managers, the task feels daunting—after all, you already have so much to coordinate on a daily basis.

Field asset management software can help you track everything and will never let you forget. Whether it is maintenance or specific certifications (e.g. HAZMAT), there are asset tracking hardware and software tools available today.

Yes, some field asset management software tools are complicated and burdensome, but they are required for your unique job. GPS safety equipment helps you protect your most important asset: your people. Global GPS tracking devices are essential for gathering data on your operations, and also help you comply with industry rules and regulations.

So, how do you meet these asset tracking needs without adding more hassle to an already stressful job?

Asset Tracking Software from Geoforce

Geoforce’s Track and Trace, Compliance Manager, and Maintenance Manager software applications are not complicated, they do not require a lot of manual upkeep, and they work for nearly all use cases.

Need to know the last time the entire trailer was certified, brakes replaced, or tie-down straps inspected? That can be tracked. Each aspect of your rig and trailer can be recorded via asset tracking hardware. Reminders can go out to you and your team notifying you of when your next inspection or certification needs to be done. The guess work is gone and the stress and chaos go away!

Additionally, with drivers added to your compliance list, you can keep your drivers’ records up to date. As such, you can manage drivers, tractors, trailers, and assets all in one compliance and maintenance portal. You will also be able to see them all on a map with initiative indicators which easily let you know which assets are in, out, and nearly out of compliance.

If you need stand-alone asset tracking hardware and software, or an add-on to what you already have today, simple and cost-effective options exist. So, if you’re fed up with your current ELD, or even if you love it but it’s missing that one piece to make it great, contact Geoforce and ask about our Compliance and Maintenance Manager modules within Track and Trace. Oh, and don’t forget to look at your trailers’ suspension before it hits the road.