Great fleet safety programs aren’t just about rules or technology. They’re about understanding the people behind the wheel. At CoolSys, driver coaching focuses as much on drivers as on their behavior. Leaders don’t just look at what drivers are doing. They consider why they might be doing it, and the challenges they face on the road.
CoolSys calls this approach operational empathy. The concept allows safety leaders to coach drivers with a human approach. Managers recognize the challenges drivers face, then use data-backed insights to guide improvement.
For Shawn Martinez, director of Environmental, Health, and Safety at CoolSys, operational empathy is about understanding the daily experience of drivers.
“Even though our drivers work in company vehicles, they view their cab as a sanctuary, where they’re away from their manager, away from the customer, and can call their spouse,” says Martinez. “By seeing the vehicle as both a workspace and a personal space, leaders can coach in a way that builds trust rather than fear.”
Respecting ‘the sanctuary’ while coaching effectively
Introducing AI dash cams into the cab of the vehicle may raise privacy concerns, and CoolSys approaches those concerns carefully.
“With our Motive program, we don’t have access to the video’s audio, by choice,” Martinez says. “So drivers can still make phone calls. And as long as they follow the rules of the road — and our own policies — dash cam video will never be recorded.”
The CoolSys approach makes it clear that drivers can make phone calls legally and safely, while the AI dash cams focus on unsafe driving behavior rather than personal conversations.
“For our technicians, the vehicle is a sanctuary, and we’ve learned to understand that,” says Martinez, whose book, The Safety Culture Blueprint, is scheduled for release May 5th. “On the flip side, we’ve learned to work with our frontline employees to help them accept the AI that’s now in their cab. So operational empathy to me is a critical component.”
Turning real-time visibility into actionable coaching
Before CoolSys installed Motive AI Dashcams, managers had limited insight into unsafe driving behaviors. The true extent of the risks drivers faced remained largely hidden.
“When we first put AI Dashcams in, I was shocked at what I saw in terms of driver behavior,” recalls Martinez. “And that was with the dash cams. We have no idea what people were doing before dash cams were installed.”
With Motive’s accurate AI and real-time in-cab alerts, drivers receive coaching directly in the vehicle. When critical safety events occur, alerts prompt drivers to correct unsafe behavior in the moment. Managers are notified right away, giving them the context to follow up with drivers quickly.
“For any fleet manager out there, any safety professional, if you do not have a camera in that cab, you have no idea what your drivers are doing. You have absolutely no idea. The risk is tremendous.
Timely coaching has a far greater impact on driver behavior. When paired with a system that drivers trust, it can improve performance across an entire fleet. Automating manual follow-up also frees safety teams to focus on high-impact priorities, like driver development and coaching.
“If you have accurate AI detection that your team can trust and leverage, then you’re going to have a far greater impact on driving behavior. And that’s exactly what we’ve experienced,” notes Martinez.
Motive makes it easy to coach drivers either virtually through the Driver App or in person using Coaching Sessions. Motive automatically assigns and routes coachable events, giving managers clear guidance on who to coach when, turning insights into consistent, high-impact development.
Coaching with responsibility
Gaining enterprise-wide visibility into fleet performance — including unsafe behavior — creates greater awareness for leaders.
“AI gives us a window into our frontline employees’ world,” Martinez says. “And so we have to be extremely careful, demonstrate that operational empathy, and plan around that.”
Paired with the Motive Safety Score, operational empathy helps leaders recognize top performers, celebrate improvement, and reinforce positive behaviors. Safety becomes a culture of performance, not just compliance.
Measuring the ROI of operational empathy
For CoolSys, the impact of dual-facing dash cams and driver acceptance goes far beyond efficiency. It delivers measurable returns across the business. Martinez evaluates ROI on three levels: financial performance, driver behavior, and leadership development.
“All behaviors have had a dramatic improvement in terms of our driving behavior,” Martinez says. CoolSys focused specifically on reducing cell phone use, speeding, and close following. “Every one of those was reduced by at least 90% across our fleet,” he says.
To show the real impact AI Dashcams have had on CoolSys driving performance, Martinez shared the following data, emphasizing the steady decline in unsafe driving habits they’ve seen over time:
That behavioral shift translates directly into financial outcomes. “On the financial side, year over year, we’re reducing our at-fault incident numbers by millions of dollars,” Martinez says. And with fewer collisions and less severe incidents, overall costs have dropped significantly.
But the most important return isn’t measured in dollars. Says Martinez: “The most important metric, the most important return that we’ve had since we’ve installed Motive AI Dashcams, is that everyone makes it home safely.”
The future of safety is built on empathy
Technology will continue to advance, but the organizations that lead will combine insight with understanding. Safety isn’t just about what you see — it’s about how you respond.
Operational empathy ensures that response builds trust, improves performance, and drives lasting cultural change.
Ready to see how AI is reshaping fleet operations?
Watch how leading teams are turning AI into measurable results in our AI trends webinar.
Interested in going deeper? Join us live at Vision 26 from May 26-28 in Nashville. Be there when Shawn Martinez shares his expertise in the following session:
Game On: How to Build a High-Performance Safety Culture
Learn how to build a high-performing safety culture through driver rewards, gamification, and incentive programs. Discover how the Motive Safety Score provides clear metrics to recognize top performers, celebrate improvement, build trust, and coach consistently.
