On a poster in the dispatch area of Con-way’s Salt Lake City service center is a handwritten announcement: March 14, 2014, is a day for celebration. The service center, among the largest in Con-way’s nationwide less-than-truckload network, has gone 15 days without accident or injury.
It’s been six months since the last 15-day streak, which is a big achievement for an operation this size, explains Brian Ressa, assistant manager at the service center with 185 employees, 86 trucks and operations that span 24 hours a day, six days a week.
Technology has played a major role in the success at this and other locations for Con-way which has a total fleet size of 15,000 drivers and 8,600 tractors.
In late 2009, the company completed a fleet-wide deployment of three “sense and alert” safety systems that consist of lane departure warning, collision avoidance and rollover stability control.
Last year, Con-way expanded its safety investment with two additional technologies. One is a real-time, on-board performance management system. The other is an event recorder that drivers often refer to as a “dash cam.”
The recorder is a compact, windshield-mounted unit that records activity inside and outside the cab. The recording is continuously erased unless the unit is triggered by an event such as hard braking, turning or rapid deceleration. When activated, the unit saves a 12-second audio and visual recording— eight seconds before and four seconds after the event.
With the addition of these two products, Con-way has created what it calls Drive Safe Systems. The number one reason for investing in the technology is to make sure all employees make it home safely each day, says Tom Clark, senior vice president of operations.
