ODS puts safety first with Vision Techniques
Oxford Direct Services (ODS) has been benefiting from the installation of vehicle camera, cyclist protection and anti-rollaway technology from Vision Techniques.
Established in 2012, Oxford Direct Services (ODS) delivers a variety of managed services to the community including vehicle repair, waste collection and recycling, park and street maintenance and property and highways construction.
The company is a longstanding customer of Vision Techniques; being an early adopter of the original VT Live camera system for its fleet of waste collection vehicles, and over the years introducing additional safety and security systems to a growing mixed fleet.
Transport manager Owain Pearce has been involved in the ODS fleet for over seven years.
“In recent years, the company has committed to its investment in vehicle technology, which has included onboard cameras, cycle safety systems and anti-rollaway systems,” he explained.
The ODS fleet is now equipped with the latest Vision Techniques mobile DVR 4G with live streaming cameras, used to manage reported incidents. The footage captured can be streamed live to the operations team, and Owain reports that the system is very user-friendly.
“[By] reviewing the footage, we can respond to enquiries quickly, resolve disputes efficiently, and investigate claims of damage or missed collections – often saving us time and money,” he said.
ODS has introduced safety monitoring audits across its operation, so the live camera functionality enables the team to randomly select a vehicle, watch the activity in real time and identify any safety or compliance concerns that need addressing.
Meanwhile, the anti-rollaway system, BrakeSafe, has been fitted to 40 of ODS’ 12T+ vehicles. Vision Techniques cites research published by the Health and Safety Executive, which found that 48 percent of drivers surveyed nationally indicated that they had personally experienced a vehicle rollaway.
Failure to apply the handbrake and/or trailer parking brake was identified as the primary reason contributing to runaway incidents involving HGVs, points out the company – so the introduction of BrakeSafe reduces risk and ensures the safety of the drivers and other road users from potentially catastrophic rollaway incidents.
The installation of the Vision Techniques BrakeSafe system to the Oxford fleet provides reassurance to drivers and fleet managers that with the automatic activation, this will not be a problem, and provides additional safety to the operators and general public.
Vision Techniques cycle safety systems are also fitted to most vehicles in the ODS fleet. Oxford has a high population of cyclists and cycle traffic is notoriously heavy. Turn alarms and turn signs are fitted to the vehicles and the drivers have split screen functionality in cab, allowing them to identify cyclists in their blind spots.
More recently, the HGV fleet has also been fitted with VT Telematics, which brings together vehicle tracking, driver behaviour and camera footage in one dashboard.
ODS was an early adopter of this platform and collaborated with Vision Techniques during the development phase.
Commenting on the technologies provided by Vision Techniques, Owain Pearce added: “The systems have been excellent over the years. Vision Techniques is the best in the market for safety. We can maintain the systems ourselves and everything is very user-friendly.”
