GPS Vehicle Tracking

Vehicle fleet tracking is a great technology for companies who have to manage vehicles used by employees as part of their company business. Companies who employ good fleet management policies can often reductions in their insurance policies as well as save on fuel and maintenance costs. This article below discusses the benefits of using a vehicle fleet tracking system in your business. Read on for a range of uses and benefits.

Tracking the movements of a large fleet of company vehicles, trucks, light vans, or private cars, was a logistics nightmare in the majority of cases. In the days before GPS, fleet operation managers, was dependent on telephone calls from depots, roadside cafes or any other means possible, such as their famous but unreliable walkie-talkie system operated by the drivers to keep track of their vehicle's movements. In most cases the walkie-talkie systems would be out or range of the control centers, so the drivers would pass on their message to other drivers who were within range, who would pass it on to another driver who was nearer the command center, till the message finally made it home. Then the command center would send a reply, and the whole process would be repeated in the opposite direction.

When you consider that some of the larger companies operate vehicle fleets than run into the hundreds them you can probably imagine that their control rooms were pretty hectic and noisy places to be.

However, over the last five years or so, the communications industry has made some major steps forward that have made life immeasurably easier. Two major advancements, linked to the same technology, began to be available for general use. The first was the mobile phone, which meant that the drivers could be reached anywhere and anytime. The other was the availability of GPS technology, which allowed the fleet operators ready access to the movements of the vehicle fleet around the clock and in real time.

This ability was a true godsend in vehicle fleet tracking, and reduced the necessity for the command centers to be in touch with the drivers by phone, only in the case of emergencies. There are 26 GPS satellites constantly circling the planet, each of them completing an entire orbit every 12 hours. Each satellite is technology capable of receiving and transmitting millions of signals every hour back to any amount of command centers back on the Earth's surface. Working in recognized grids, the satellites recognize a transmission and correlate this information and use a triangulation of signals between any three satellites to calculate the user's exact location. The command center can receive an updates on each vehicles movement every minute up to every fifteen, depending on how high a level of accuracy the command center needs to calculate each of their vehicle's movements.

This ability to track their fleet's movement has worked wonders for fleet operators in increasing the efficiency and reducing the running costs. Especially important when you consider that fuel sots are constantly on the increase and eroding the vehicle fleets operators already hard pressed profit margins.

So what are the principal benefits that real time GPS technology has brought to vehicle fleet operators?

1. Savings in fuel costs, as drivers become aware that their movements are being monitored, are reluctant to deviate form their fixed routes.

2. Savings in time, as drivers become aware that their movements are being monitored are reluctant to take unauthorized stops.

3. Savings in both fuel and wear tear of the company vehicle, as drivers are less inclined to use their vehicles for unauthorized journeys after hours.

4. Reductions in the risk to human life as drivers reduce their speeds.

5. Reduction in vehicle theft as the criminals steers clear of vehicles showing a GPS sticker. They know the vehicle can be easily traced and even immobilized, so they have gone back to stealing hub caps.

6. Reduction in insurance premiums as the insurance companies review statistics that show the vehicles that have GPS systems on board are involved in fewer accidents and are rarely stolen.

7. Increase in sales as customers realize that deliveries from the company arrive on time.

Just a few examples of the savings in costs ass well as the increase efficiency levels that can be achieved by vehicle fleet operators who install GPS vehicle tracking systems. No one who can argue that the communication revolution that GPS technology has been at the forefront has made the world a better place for vehicle fleet operators. And certainly quieter.

Scott Elliott owns and operates http://www.tracking-vehicles.com