Blue Tree Systems introduced a new feature called Anticipation, which tracks and measures the gap between acceleration and brake usage in normal driving.

Released to coincide with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s Brake Safety Day, the Anticipation feature measures how well a driver is anticipating the road ahead by monitoring his or her use of the accelerator and brake pedals. It measures the time taken before a brake is pressed after the driver lifts off of the accelerator.

Brake Safety Day on Sept. 7 is when law enforcement agencies in North America conduct roadside inspections on large trucks to identify out-of-adjustment brakes and brake system violations.

A good Anticipation score can indicate a more fuel-efficient driving style, because easing off the accelerator allows a vehicle to slow down naturally and any distance traveled while coasting in this state are considered “free miles.” It also reduces wear and tear on brakes.

“One of Blue Tree’s goals in introducing this new Anticipation feature is the same as the goal of Brake Safety Day: to reduce the number of crashes involving commercial vehicles,” said Mark Whitney, head of product development for Blue Tree Systems. “We are confident that this new measure – together with our other brake-related measurements such as brake presses per 100 miles, high-speed brake presses, short brake presses and coasting percentages – can lead to significant improvements for truck fleets in safety, mpg and maintenance costs.”

Anticipation can be a strong safety indicator, according to Blue Tree Systems, and it can highlight drivers who are more likely to have an accident. A poor anticipation score indicates that the driver is not anticipating that he may need to stop in a few seconds, instead of reacting too late to an event.

Blue Tree’s platform compares similar drivers to each other on their Anticipation scores. This feeds into Blue Tree’s Driver Performance scoring, which is visible in the cab. Full analysis and reporting are available in FleetManager.com, Blue Tree’s portal. Driver coaching can then be completed with information broken down across vehicles.

The new Anticipation features adds to Blue Tree’s ability to collect and report fault codes from all electronic braking systems. Maintenance managers can see this information both through text message or email and historically, using detailed reports. Issues can then be dealt with as soon as possible, instead of waiting for periodic safety checks or scheduled maintenance windows.

Blue Tree Systems is a global telematics provider offering solutions for hours of service compliance, fuel, safety and cargo on a single Android-based software and hardware platform. For more information, click here.