How MICHELIN Connected Fleet Can Support Your Fleet During National Trailer Safety Week

Early June marks the start of NATM’s National Trailer Safety Week. While fleet owners and operators prioritize safety year-round, this week emphasizes the importance of compliance, safety and education for proper trailer usage. With millions of trailers traversing roadways daily, it’s crucial to ensure that trailers are being towed safely for the sake of everyone on the road.

With the right tools and insights, you can ensure your trailers are safe, well-maintained and optimally utilized. In this blog, MICHELIN Connected Fleet shares five ways truck and trailer fleets can leverage our solutions to increase safety for trailers, fleet drivers and everyone else on the road.

1. avoid emergency roadside service incidents 

Emergency roadside service incidents can be costly and disruptive, leading to expensive tire repairs, driver downtime, late deliveries and potential accident liability. MICHELIN Connected Fleet provides tire temperature and pressure monitoring alerts (TPMS) to help you stay ahead of potential tire issues. By continuously monitoring tire conditions, our system can alert you to any abnormalities, allowing you to take proactive measures before they escalate into emergencies. This enhances roadside safety and reduces the financial impact of unexpected repairs and delays, ensuring your fleet remains on schedule and operates smoothly.

2. Understand & Optimize Your Fleet's Trailer Utilization

Optimizing your fleet’s trailer utilization is more than just an efficiency booster; it significantly enhances safety. Reviewing trailer utilization reports gives you actionable insights into how your trailers are being used. These customizable reports, coupled with consultations from MICHELIN Connected Fleet’s Customer Success team, allow you to identify underutilized trailers, optimize load planning and improve overall efficiency.

Reviewing utilization data helps reduce the risk of trailer overloading, which can lead to tire blowouts, brake failures and increased stopping distances. By understanding your trailers' utilization patterns, you can make informed decisions that enhance your fleet’s safety, performance, compliance and cost-effectiveness.

3. Get Real-Time Visibility of Your Trailers' Locations

Gaining real-time visibility of fleet trailer locations is essential for enhancing the safety of your fleet. By knowing the exact location and usage status of your trailers, fleet managers can promptly address any issues that arise, such as unauthorized use or deviations from planned routes, which could compromise safety. This visibility reduces the risk of theft and ensures that trailers are not left in unsafe or unauthorized areas. Real-time location tracking with MICHELIN Connected Fleet also aids in effective scheduling and route planning, minimizing unnecessary travel and exposure to road hazards.

Additionally, real-time visibility and tracking facilitate quicker responses to roadside incidents, such as breakdowns. If a trailer encounters a problem, immediate location data allows for rapid assistance dispatch, reducing the time drivers spend in potentially dangerous situations on the road. Real-time tracking also helps manage detention times, ensuring trailers are not held up unnecessarily at loading docks or delivery points, which can lead to driver fatigue and increased accident risk. By keeping trailers moving efficiently and securely, real-time visibility significantly boosts the safety and reliability of fleet operations.

4. Put Your Trailer Data to Use with Best-In-Class Reporting 

Fleet trailer data reporting plays a pivotal role in enhancing safety by providing comprehensive insights into equipment performance and utilization. Detailed reports from MICHELIN Connected Fleet cover metrics like distance covered, rate of use, waiting times and more – allowing fleet managers to identify patterns that could indicate potential safety risks. For instance, data highlighting excessive idle times or underutilization can signal maintenance needs or inefficacies that, if unaddressed, might lead to mechanical failures or unsafe operating conditions. By monitoring this data, fleet managers can schedule timely maintenance and ensure trailers are always in optimal working condition.

Additionally, data reporting helps make informed decisions on route optimization and load management, which are crucial for maintaining safe operations. Reports that track trailer locations and usage can reveal trends in overloading or uneven load distribution. By analyzing this information, fleet managers can adjust loading practices to ensure even weight distribution and adherence to load capacity limits. MICHELIN Connected Fleet’s comprehensive data reporting also supports compliance with safety regulations by providing verifiable records of maintenance activities and trailer usage, enhancing fleet safety.

5. Encourage Safer Driving Behavior 

An extension of MICHELIN Connected Fleet’s reporting and vehicle tracking capabilities, fleet managers can monitor driving pattern data such as speeding, harsh braking and sudden acceleration to identify risky behaviors and provide actionable feedback and coaching to drivers. This proactive approach not only helps prevent roadside incidents but also promotes safer driving habits among drivers, ultimately reducing the risk of collisions and injuries on the road.

Your Partner in Trailer Safety

National Trailer Safety Week is the perfect time to reflect on and enhance your fleet’s safety protocols. MICHELIN Connected Fleet offers comprehensive, data-driven solutions that help ensure your trailers are secure, well-maintained and operated by drivers committed to safety. By integrating connected fleet solutions into your fleet management strategy, you can make your fleet more efficient and ensure the roads are safer for everyone – a win, win.

The MICHELIN Connected Fleet team is here to help you revamp your trailer safety strategy. Call us today at 800-358-6187 or contact us online to get started.