🚛 Introduction
This feature uses your existing FleetWatcher devices to track how safely your drivers are operating their vehicles.
Using reverse geocoding, the system monitors speeding against posted speed limits. It also detects harsh turns, acceleration, and braking events.
Driver Safety helps you:
Keep your drivers safe
Avoid accidents and violations
Reduce insurance costs
🔧 Device Requirements
FleetWatcher’s Driver Safety is compatible with these devices when coupled to over-the-road equipment:
GS-303, GS-305
GS-283, GS-283c
GS-284, GS-284c
GS-364e, GS-450
FleetWatcher Driver App (App as a Device – AaaD Mode Only)
➡️ Minimum requirement: Devices must report at least once per minute for accurate event tracking. Devices set to longer intervals (e.g., 5 minutes) will not collect enough data.
📞 To verify compatibility or update ping settings, contact your Customer Success Manager.
🧑💼 User Access Requirements
To View Driver Safety features, assign the following ACLs to the Admin user’s Authorization Role:
Driver Safety ACL – Grants access to safety data
DS Audit ACL – Allows omission/inclusion of infractions
Report Third Party Safety ACL – Enables viewing of 3rd-party Driver Safety data
⚙️ Configure Driver Safety Settings
Go to: Manage > Driver Safety > Driver Safety Settings
From here, you can:
Define what counts as an infraction
Assign point values to each event
You can also set stricter or more lenient rules by Equipment Type:
➡️ Go to: Manage > Equipment > Add/Edit Custom Equipment Types
⚠️ Equipment Type rules override company-wide defaults.
📌 Default Infraction Definitions
Type | Threshold | Range (Min–Max) | Infraction Points |
Speeding | Mild | 5–9 MPH over limit | 1 |
Speeding | Moderate | 10–19 MPH | 2 |
Speeding | Severe | 20+ MPH | 3 |
Aggressive Turn | ≥ 0.23 g for 2 sec | — | 2 |
Aggressive Braking | ≥ 0.23 g for 2 sec | — | 2 |
Aggressive Acceleration | ≥ 0.23 g for 2 sec | — | 2 |
📸 Example of Driver Safety Settings screen
⚙️ Update settings any time to match company safety policies.
🧑✈️ Driver Setup Requirements
To use the FleetWatcher Driver Safety feature, it’s important to first identify and set up the drivers you want to track.
Driver Safety reporting is tied to driver behavior, not a specific piece of equipment. This means a driver's infractions and safety scores will follow them across all equipment they operate.
🔗 “Add a Driver”
⚠️ Important Note About Driver Names
While FleetWatcher requires unique usernames or emails for all users and drivers, first and last names do not need to be unique. However, if two drivers share the same first and last name, they may not display correctly on Driver Safety screens or reports.
To prevent display issues:
Add a middle initial to one or both drivers
Example: Joe A. Smith and Joe B. SmithIf middle initials match, add another identifier
Example: Joe A. Smith-1 or Joe A. Smith Sr.
📱 Driver App Use & AaaD (App as a Device)
To track Driver Safety, each driver must have a driver profile in FleetWatcher and be assigned to the equipment they’re operating that day. This ensures that all safety events are properly attributed.
There are two ways to assign a driver to equipment:
✅ Manually on the Assign Drivers page
✅ Using the FleetWatcher Driver App, where the driver selects the equipment directly
🧩 Scenario 1: Equipment has a FleetWatcher device installed
The hardware device tracks and reports all infractions
The Driver App is optional and can be used solely for driver-to-equipment assignment
You do not need to check the “Grant Driver Application Access” box unless using AaaD
✅ No additional fee applies
📱 Scenario 2: Equipment does not have a FleetWatcher device
The company can enable App as a Device (AaaD) to turn the driver’s phone into a GPS tracking device
In this case:
✅ Check the “Grant Driver Application Access” box
The driver logs into the app using their email and password
The app will track GPS location and safety events in place of a hardware device
⚠️ The AaaD feature has an additional fee. Charges apply only when the driver is actively logged in and driving.
Please reach out to your Account Manager for more information about AaaD pricing.
✅ Driver Safety Setup Checklist
✔️ Use compatible devices or enable AaaD
👥 Create a profile for each driver
⚙️ Configure infraction settings
🚚 Assign drivers to equipment daily
📊 Review scores in the Driver Safety Leaderboard
🧠 Grading System: How Driver Safety Scores Are Calculated
FleetWatcher calculates a Driver Safety Grade by dividing infraction points by miles driven during the reporting period.
This helps normalize scores across short and long-distance drivers.
📊 Grading Scale
Score Range | Grade |
98–100 | A+ |
92–97 | A |
90–91 | A– |
88–89 | B+ |
82–87 | B |
80–81 | B– |
78–79 | C+ |
72–77 | C |
70–71 | C– |
68–69 | D+ |
62–67 | D |
60–61 | D– |
59 or Below | F |
🔢 How the Score Is Calculated
Each driver’s score is based on two key factors:
The total number of infraction points
The total distance traveled during the reporting period
A driver with 10 infraction points over 200 miles will likely score higher than a driver with 5 points over 25 miles.
⚠️ A Note About Speeding Events
Speeding infractions may appear more than once for what seems like a single event due to these conditions:
If there is a moment where the driver slows down between speeding intervals, this will reset the event.
Example (in a 55 MPH zone): 61.1, 61.8, 59.7, 60.3, 63.2, 57.8
➝ Two speeding events recorded due to the slow-downs in between.If GPS cannot confirm the posted speed limit momentarily, the speeding event gets split.
Example: 61.1, 61.8, Unknown, 60.3, 57.3
➝ The unknown speed check triggers a break in the event, creating two infractions.
Each speeding event is classified as:
Mild Speeding
Moderate Speeding
Severe Speeding
Based on the threshold defined in the Driver Safety Settings.
You can view event durations and severity in the Driver Safety Details Report. Admins may omit unfair speeding events using the Driver Safety Omissions Page, but this should be used sparingly.
🔁 A Note About Aggressive Turns
Aggressive Turn Infractions are more common on left turns than right turns. This is due to:
Right turns are tighter but shorter (often completed in ~62 feet).
Unless taken at high speed or without stopping, they typically don’t last long enough to count as an infraction.Left turns cover more ground (~156 feet), allowing higher speeds and longer durations.
These are more likely to exceed the 2-second g-force duration required to trigger an infraction.
📸 See screenshots for a visual comparison:
Example of a Right Turn — 62.11 ft
Example of a Left Turn — 156.12 ft
Result: Left turns account for approximately 20% more Aggressive Turn Infractions than right turns.
📊 Driver Safety Reports: Where to View Driver Data
Use this guide to understand where each type of Driver Safety information is located in FleetWatcher. Each report is accessible from the web platform and requires the appropriate admin-level permissions.
Page Name | Navigation Path | Use This Page To: | Data Displayed | User Role |
Driver Safety Leaderboard |
|
|
|
|
View safety grades and compare drivers across your fleet. | Fleet > Driver Safety > Driver Safety Leaderboard | View and rank drivers by score. Compare safety performance across the fleet. | Driver scores, total infractions, daily trends, infraction breakdown, grades | Admin Only |
Driver Safety Details |
|
|
|
|
See detailed safety data for one driver, including maps, notes, and infractions. | Fleet > Driver Safety > Driver Safety Details | View detailed infractions and map data for a specific driver. | Infraction list with timestamps and metrics, map pins, incident notes, omissions, grade | Admin Only |
Driver/Equipment Assignment History Report |
|
|
|
|
Review driver sign-ins, sign-outs, and GPS assignment locations. | Fleet > Driver Safety > Driver/Equipment Assignment History Report | Track when drivers were assigned to equipment and how they signed in/out. | Assignment durations, sign-in/out dates, mobile app usage indicators, map links | Admin Only |
Driver Safety Omissions |
|
|
|
|
See a list of all safety events that have been manually omitted. | Fleet > Driver Safety > Driver Safety Omissions | Audit omitted safety infractions and see who removed them. | List of omitted “Engine Running” events with user, driver, and timestamp info | Admin Only |
📎 Tip: You can return to this chart anytime when reviewing Driver Safety data across different parts of the FleetWatcher platform.
Want to dig deeper into each report? Use the links in the Driver Safety: How It Works article to jump to a full breakdown of each page.
🧠 Note:
Drivers only interact with Driver Safety via the Driver App (when selecting equipment or using App-as-a-Device).
All four reports are Admin-level tools and require Driver Safety ACL permissions (with optional DS Audit or 3rd Party Safety roles).
Driver Safety Rounding Calculation
We round based on 2 significant figures, not strict rounding
The function always keeps 2 significant figures — meaning the first 2 non-zero digits are kept, and everything after is rounded off.
For small numbers, 2 significant figures gives you decent precision:
4.35 → 4.4
43.5 → 44
For large numbers, 2 significant figures gets increasingly coarse because you're still only keeping the first 2 digits:
264 → 260 (rounded to nearest 10)
2,643 → 2,600 (rounded to nearest 100)
17,238 → 17,000 (rounded to nearest 1,000)
The pattern is: every time your number gets 10x bigger, the rounding jumps up one level of coarseness. So a driver who goes 17,000 miles between infractions and one who goes 17,499 miles would both show as 17,000 — a 500 mile difference that gets swallowed by the rounding.
✅ Wrap-Up
That’s everything you need to get Driver Safety off the ground! Once your devices, drivers, and settings are in place, the FleetWatcher platform handles the rest.
👉 Next step: Open the Driver Safety Leaderboard to view grades, infractions, and daily rankings.
Need help? Reach out to Customer Success — we’ve got your back.