JMS Transportation cuts accident rate in half with Motive.

Challenge

As the ELD enforcement date approached, JMS Transportation’s original ELD provider assured them their ELDs were up to date. However, two months before the deadline, the provider changed their story, telling JMS Trucking they’d have to invest in updated devices. For JMS, that wasn’t going to work. 

The ELD installation process with the former provider promised to be disruptive as well, with little long-term value. Installing the new ELDs would take two hours, putting the fleet’s owner-operators out of service during that time. 

“They wanted to connect the ELDs through the dashboard. So whenever our owner-operators left the company, we’d have to pull that equipment out of the dashboard, and we wouldn’t be able to reuse it,” said Heather Walerius, Safety Director for JMS Transportation.

Prior to Motive, driver safety and coaching at JMS were also problematic. Since the fleet wasn’t using dash cams, JMS had to pull telematics reports manually every morning. They then coached drivers on events from the previous day. Inefficient and reactive, the approach wasn’t enough to stop one or two accidents every month.

Solution

JMS Transportation’s previous provider only alerted drivers to ELD violations after a violation occurred. With Motive, drivers get alerted as they’re approaching a violation, so they can take corrective action and prevent HOS violations from happening. 

“One of the first things we noticed when we switched to Motive was a significant reduction in HOS violations,” Walerius says. “Our approach to safety and compliance has been much more proactive. Motive keeps us on top of our game.”

When JMS Transportation onboarded Motive AI Dashcams, they chose to do a staggered rollout to avoid pushback from drivers. The approach helped drivers accept dash cams more readily. “Our drivers love the in-cab alerts they get from the AI Dashcams because it makes them more aware of their driving habits,” Walerius says.

While JMS Transportation has a fleet of just over 100 vehicles, they operate considerably more trailers — about 800 of them. They have so many trailers, they were having a hard time tracking them. JMS solved that problem with the help of Motive Asset Gateways.  

Since investing in Motive Asset Gateways, Walerius estimates the company’s utilization has improved by at least 30%. “We’re able to track our trailers and get an accurate report when they’re sitting somewhere too long,” she says. 

For Walerius, having a managed service like Motive saves time. She no longer has to review the day’s events manually. The Motive safety team automatically uploads the most impactful events for her. “I used to spend four hours a day reviewing safety videos,” Walerius says. “Now I focus exclusively on drivers who need coaching.”

Beyond technology, Walerius appreciates the Motive experience. Motive Chat offers 24/7 support for managers who have questions, but little time.

“I rave about Motive customer support,” Walerius says. “I especially love the Motive Chat feature. I don’t even have to pick up the phone. If a driver has a question about something, or I’ve got an issue with a driver that I can’t fix, I just do a simple chat and continue answering phone calls or doing what I need to do.”

Results

JMS Transportation’s safety improvements have been dramatic, with a reduction in unsafe driving behaviors, a decrease in the amount of time spent coaching, and fewer accidents.

“Since investing in Motive, our accident rate has declined by at least 50%,” Walerius says. “As fleet safety has improved, so have our repair costs. We’re becoming a more profitable business.” 

Recently, a JMS driver was involved in a serious accident. The driver was able to quickly share the AI Dashcam video with authorities to show he wasn’t at fault. “Having that video saved our driver from FMCSA disqualification,” Walerius says. “And who knows how much it saved us in litigation costs?”