Who are these pointsmen at the intersections?

 

Who are these pointsmen at the intersections?

With traffic congestion on the increase we are more and more depending on traffic lights to facilitate the smooth movement of traffic at intersections. But what if there is load shedding – or there are no traffic lights at some problem spots? We have become more and more reliant on the angels in green pointing the way!!

But who are these pointsmen? OUTsurance has received many compliments from motorists for the implementation of the “Pointsmen Initiative” This is all part of the objective by OUTsurance to help fellow South Africans and it has now been taken a step further with the launch of a special dedicated website to provide additional information.

The Pointsmen section on the OUTsurance website offers several interactive features such as:

- Suggesting an intersection
- Finding your pointsmen
- Voting for your favorite pointsmen

The Arrive Alive Road Safety Website and this Blog would like to extend a word of appreciation to OUTsurance and all these dedicated men and women working at our intersections. May you know that we appreciate our efforts even though we might not all acknowledge these efforts from within the warmth of our vehicles.

For more information visit “Pointsmen and Road Safety”

Tracking technology checks your every move in the company vehicle

C-Track

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Two metro police officers have recently been charged and up to 180 more could be disciplined for “acting without honesty and integrity” relating to information received from vehicle tracking technology. These individuals tried to defend themselves by discrediting the tracking technology [ C-Track system]

Unfortunately for these alleged offenders there are several key aspects to the tracking technology that the ordinary driver might not be aware of – and which will amount to key evidence from the experts in court.

These aspects include:
• The vehicle tracking and fleet management system was installed to reduce vehicle abuse, aid in the recovery of stolen and hijacked vehicles and to increase service delivery to customers/ public and the safety of drivers.
• The C-track system uses GPS coordinates to monitor and report and store the location of a vehicle. To make it easier for the operators, the GPS Lat/Long coordinates are translated into a street/area description using the latest SA Maps. (C-track uses the same Map sets as the leading Navigation systems.)
• The system has international accreditation and certifications recognised by the EU.
• Any system and its data can be manipulated and tampered with giving the necessary access to the passwords, servers and the data. C-track stores the vehicles‘ information in binary and encrypted formats which means any alleged manipulation of information on reports can be very easily verified against the original binary data.
• C-track has further a number of features to specifically detect tampering with the vehicle units. These are reported to the backend and can be used to identify tampering to manipulate or discredit the system. Comprehensive analysis of the C-track data will show any such attempts.
• C-track is a real time system and as such relies heavily on IT and communication networks to deliver the vehicle information to the end users.
• In the event of a communication failure, the C-track units store the data if they out of GSM coverage and automatically send it when coverage or communication is restored. This in no way affects the data and integrity of the system – C-track was specifically designed to cope with potential IT and communication failures.
• C-track is a real time system and full incident information is available to operators within minutes, ie the time it takes to view a replay or print a report. The information is stored for typically 2-5 years to ensure evidence are available in support of incidents.

The Metro police spokesman commented on the allegations by stating: “We believe C-track is working perfectly. We don’t believe there is any dysfunction.” He said the metro service benefited from the system because it helped control the movement of employees and was proof of service should there be an inquiry.

Vehicle Tracking Technology is an important component in the efforts to increase road safety and to monitor fleets of vehicles. By creating awareness amongst workers with regards to the objectives of this technology we will find closer attention to effective and safe operation of company vehicles. This might not only curb escalating vehicle costs but also add to safe behaviour on the roads.

Visit the Arrive Alive Road Safety Website for more information on “Fleet Management and Road Safety”

Leading navigation solution provider reveals managment changes

GPS & Road Safety

 

 

 

Amsterdam, 28 July 2008 – TomTom NV (TomTom) announced a new structure to its portable navigation (PND) division. Corinne Vigreux has been appointed managing director, Ken McAlpine will join as senior vice president product design and Alex Batchelor will join as executive vice president marketing.

“These appointments reflect the high level of expertise and industry experience we are seeking and we look forward to benefiting from their insights and knowledge,” said Harold Goddijn, TomTom CEO. “By ensuring we have the right level of management within TomTom we will continue to meet our goal to deliver the very best in-car consumer navigation experience for our customers.”

Corinne Vigreux is a co-founder of TomTom and has played a leading role in growing the company from a small organisation into a global player in the consumer electronics market. Vigreux’s key responsibilities have focused on defining and driving the company’s global sales strategy and geographical expansion, overseeing product management as well as developing partner and retail relationships. She is a key visionary in the car navigation industry and has played an active role in this fast growing market from the beginning. In her new role as managing director she will be responsible for all aspects of TomTom’s retail business, including product management, P&L, sales, marketing and HR.

Ken McAlpine is an engineering professional with 27 years’ experience in consumer product design, manufacturing and project management. McAlpine was previously employed as director of engineering with Apple Inc, based at the head office in Cupertino, California. McAlpine was involved in the development of, among other products, the MacMini, AppleTV and iPhone. Additionally, McAlpine led Apple’s laptop engineering teams, which were responsible for engineering management, program management, electronic circuit design and support of all Apple laptop products. McAlpine will be responsible for product design and usability within TomTom’s PND division ensuring that the user experience is consistent across all TomTom platforms.

Alex Batchelor has almost 20 years’ marketing and international brand management
experience. He has guided, developed and managed world-class consumer brands, such as Orange and Unilever. His expertise lies in both marketing strategy and brand building–most recently he was marketing director at Royal Mail Group. He will be responsible for managing the TomTom brand internationally and positioning the combination of TomTom’s products and services as the premier in-car navigation solution.

Visit the Arrive Alive Road Safety Website for information on “GPS and Road Safety”