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Idelic integrates FMCSA data to enhance crash predictions

Additional data creates 360-degree view of driver behavior

Software developer Idelic Inc., a 2016 spinoff from Pitt Ohio Express, is adding federal safety data to its all-in-one driver management platform. (Photo: FreightWaves/Jim Allen)

Trucking software developer Idelic Inc. is integrating federal safety data into its driver management system, enhancing its single platform approach to predicting which drivers are likely to be in a crash.

Idelic, a 2016 spinoff of Pitt Ohio Express, is tapping the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) portal that contains the seven Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories (BASICs) data to see how a motor carrier’s safety performance stacks up against other carriers.

“Before this, if you wanted to see your BASICs, you had to go into the DOT [U.S. Department of Transportation] website… and it’s a real hassle,” Idelic digital communications specialist Matt Stalford told FreightWaves. 

The FMCSA did not work with Idelic on the integration. But the agency could see the data it compiles put to better use by fleets with tens of thousands of drivers on the Idelic platform.


What Idelic does

Idelic integrates human resource systems, electronic logging devices (ELDs), cameras, training, telematics and other data sets into its platform, measuring how the companies fare collectively and how individual drivers affect their safety scores.

Idelic has about 30 partners, including KeepTruckin, Lytx, Samsara, DriverReach, Instructional Technologies, Inc., Vertical Alliance, SuperVision and Omnitracs, Idelic senior marketing manager Geena Barberio said.

“If there’s a platform that has one or two of these integrations, there’s a lot of data there, but if you integrate with all the systems you use, you’re getting the most complete picture of the driver,” Stalford said.


Getting a jump

The addition of BASICs allows customers using Idelic’s Safety Suite to access extensive information about where their percentiles rank as soon as the FMCSA releases them.

“Gaining a 360-degree view of a driver’s behavior and risk is critical in allowing fleets to be proactive in preventing crashes,” Idelic founder and CEO Hayden Cardiff said in a statement.

Idelic claims that for one unnamed customer, it reduced insurance claims by 55%, workers’ compensation by 48% and driver turnover by 43% – all while improving productivity by 22%. It estimates a trucking company with 1,800 drivers could save about $3 million a year using Safety Suite.

Behavior modification

“The real bread and butter of what we do is we take all of this data, run it through machine-learning models to predict who is most at risk for an accident and then get them the tools to work them off what we call the Driver Watch List,” Barberio said. 

The company’s Driver App allows in-cab views of what actions may have caused their safety scores to change and if any training has been assigned.

“Gone are the days when a driver comes into your office and they are oblivious to their behaviors,” Cardiff said. “Now you can go in and coach on those specific behaviors and get buy-in from your drivers and help them engage with you as they continue to improve.”


Alan Adler

Alan Adler is an award-winning journalist who worked for The Associated Press and the Detroit Free Press. He also spent two decades in domestic and international media relations and executive communications with General Motors.