Detecting unsafe driving behaviors and driving environment factors

Driving behavior: Tailgating

This is a printed page that might be out of date. To read the most up-to-date help content, visit https://fleet-help.verizonconnect.com.
  • Updated

Tailgating is a dangerous driving behavior because it greatly increases the likelihood of rear-end collisions. If the vehicle in front brakes suddenly, the driver is less likely to avoid a collision. Tailgating collisions can cause expensive vehicle repairs, insurance claims, and even legal consequences if the tailgating driver is at fault.

Our definition of tailgating

The vehicle was dangerously close to the vehicle in front while traveling at least 25 mph. If the vehicle in front brakes suddenly, the driver is unlikely to avoid a collision. For example, the vehicle in front may have entered the driver’s lane suddenly, or the driver got too close due to unsafe driving.

How tailgating is detected

A Tailgating tag is applied by:

  1. Camera AI: The driving behavior is detected by the AI Dashcam in real-time, alerts the driver (if in-cab alerts are enabled) and triggers a video event in Fleet.

  2. Cloud AI: The driving behavior is detected by the cloud AI when the video is uploaded to Fleet. The video event was triggered by a different unsafe driving behavior.

Use the AI detection overlay

AI_Detection_Overlay.png

The AI detection overlay shows the distance in seconds (headway)  between your driver's vehicle and the vehicle in front.

When tailgating is detected, a red box appears around the vehicle that the driver is too close to. The headway, in seconds, is displayed on the video.

The overlay is on by default.  To switch the overlay on or off, choose the AI detection overlay toggle AI_detection_overlay_toggle.png in the video player.

Note

This functionality may be unavailable if the object detection analysis is incomplete or has failed.

Note

Even if driving behaviors detected by camera AI are disabled in your fleet's AI driving assistance settings, videos triggered by other events will be analyzed and the driving behavior may be detected by the cloud AI.

How to prevent videos falsely triggering

Videos can be falsely triggered, usually when an AI Dashcam lens is obstructed or in the wrong position.

Learn how to avoid falsely triggering videos.

How tailgating affects a driver's safety score

When tailgating is detected, it negatively impacts the Video driver safety score. Riskier behaviors impact the score more negatively than others.

Our AI model analyzes the common patterns of unsafe driving behaviors that occur months or years leading up to a collision. The model uses this data to predict which behaviors carry a higher risk of collision. Despite the classification level, riskier behaviors impact the score more negatively than others as they are more likely to lead to a collision in future.

High collision predictors are driving behaviors such as Hard braking, Tailgating and Posted speed exceeded. These behaviors will result in a higher point reduction of the safety score, compared to lower collision predictors such as Smoking.

Use the safety score’s Coaching opportunities section to identify these behaviors and prepare for a coaching session with a driver. Discussing these behaviors with a driver can reduce the risk of serious incidents. Keep in mind the following statistics:

  • 20% of collisions involved the driver with the lowest score.

  • Over half of collisions involved drivers with safety scores in the bottom quarter of the fleet. 

  • 80% of collisions involved a driver with safety scores in the bottom half of the fleet.

Driving behavior

Number of events

Likelihood of collision

Rolling stop

2+

260%

Tailgating

2+ classified as Major

230%

Posted speed exceeded

3+

230%

Phone distraction

3+

160%

Based on Verizon Connect customer data.

How to reduce tailgating in your fleet

Follow up by initiating a conversation with your driver. You can:

Keep your fleet safe by enabling notifications, videos and in-cab alerts

A Safety Manager can customize their video notifications, video events detected by the camera AI and uploaded to Fleet, as well as the in-cab alerts a driver hears in real-time.

Customize video notifications

Set up and customize the desktop or email notifications you receive when a Critical, Major or Moderate video event occurs.

Enable video events

Video events of each unsafe driving behavior must be enabled in the AI driving assistance settings for the camera AI to detect the behavior and generate a video, which is then uploaded to Fleet and analyzed. Enabling video events allows a Safety Manager to:

  • Receive a notification, if enabled

  • Watch a video event in Fleet

  • Allow the video data to generate a more accurate weekly Video driver safety score and fleet safety score

  • View the event in a coaching session to facilitate a conversation about unsafe driving behavior.

Learn how to update video triggers and in-cab alerts.

Enable in-cab alerts

Enabling in-cab alerts allows a driver to hear an alert in real time, prompting them to rectify the unsafe driving behavior.

When in-cab alerts are enabled, fewer events are triggered compared with when alerts are disabled.

In-cab alert

Occurrence of events

Phone call detection

-50%

Tiredness

-50%

Distraction

-33%

Smoking

-30%

Tailgating

-25%

Based on Verizon Connect customer data.

Learn how to update video triggers and in-cab alerts.

AI_driving_assistance_settings_en-us.png

Related articles

Comments

0 comments

Article is closed for comments.