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Sylvester Person, with Kansas City-based Velociti Inc., installs a DriveCam in a MCB Quantico vehicle. The devices, called for under Executive Order 13693, will capture information on vehicle speed, location and emissions data in all passenger-carrying vehicles.

Photo by Marianne Weaver

Vehicles aboard Quantico being equipped with recording devices

8 Dec 2016 | Marianne Weaver/Staff Writer Marine Corps Base Quantico

Before the end of the year, 401 of the 429 passenger-carrying vehicles in the Quantico transportation fleet will be equipped with a telematic system, The Lytx DriveCam, beating the March 2017 deadline set by Executive Order 13693: Planning for Sustainability in the Next Decade.

Under that executive order, any federal agency with 20 or more motor vehicles must install a telematics system to collect information on fuel consumption, emissions and maintenance. The U.S. General Services Administration awarded a blanket purchase agreement to San Diego-based Lytx for the purchase of DriveCam in-vehicle video recorders and driver feedback systems.

“The main objective is to reduce fleet operating costs,” said B.T. McLemore, head of the Transportation branch and MCINCR GME Fleet manager. “That is going to happen by identifying poor driving behavior such as excessive hard breaking, hard cornering, jack-rabbit starts, excessive idling and collisions.”  McLemore added that the base has a standing anti-idling policy.  “No more than five minutes,” he said. “Running the AC or heat for 10 to 15 minutes (while idling) is not an efficient way to operate.”

All of these factors, he said, contribute to excessive fuel consumption and abnormal wear and tear on the vehicles. “And any time there is an accident,” he added, “the government has to pay.”  Drivers exhibiting bad driving behaviors, he said, will be given driver education coaching to become better drivers.

Although the initiative is just coming online at Quantico, it has been in use at Camp Pendleton in San Diego County since 2009.  According to the Lytx website, since the program started there has been a 40 percent reduction in speeding violations and a 60 percent decrease in fuel use, emissions and idle time.

“We have gained a tremendous advantage in working with the Lytx’s telematics and video-based safety technology,” said Gary Funk, Southwest Region Fleet Transportation (SWRFT) regional fleet manager, USMC. “It has placed us on a fast track to understanding our fleet, to best utilizing its resources and to making it safer. It helps us to save costs, and most importantly, to save lives.”

Installation of the camera systems is well underway at Quantico. Installation technicians from Kansas City-based Velociti Inc. have begun installing the system on government-owned sedans, vans, buses, pick-up trucks and emergency vehicles. To date 118 vehicles are equipped with the new systems.  When triggered by an unusual driving event, the Lytx event recorder captures video and data that can help inform coaching sessions, reward good driving and exonerate drivers from false claims.

 


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