Fleet Repair, and Traffic Violations
By Dan Deary, posted in Phoenix truck painting on November 13, 2013
With new technology being instated to administer traffic fines, fleet business owners have to now address who is responsible when a fleet driver receives a traffic violation. Is it their responsibility, even if they do not believe they are at fault?
Cities are stepping up their enforcement by adding new technological systems to ensure that no traffic violation goes unnoticed. “…Crackdowns on violations is a growing issue that needs to be addressed,” stated Charles Territo, senior vice president of communications, marketing, and public affairs at American Traffic Solutions (ATS). Some of the new systems being added to put an end to traffic violations include: cashless toll lanes, smart parking meters, and the infamous red-light enforcement cameras. Smart parking meters are new and are being implemented in cities across the nation. These smart parking utilize GPS and have sensors placed in the street. These sensors reset the meter when someone leaves and also notify parking officials when their time has expired. This makes it easy for the officials to give them a ticket for abusing their time limit on the meter. Quick to the ticket you could summarize your experience with these new meters.
With all of the new, upcoming technological advances, what should fleets do?
According to Territo, fleet companies should instill policies and regulations regarding what happen if a driver gets a ticket while operating the fleet vehicle. He believes it is the responsibility of the driver and not the fleet owner to pay for their fine because tolls and tickets are becoming very costly for the fleet company to take on.
It is important for drivers to be held accountable for their actions. “We’ve found that 90% of individuals across the country who receive a violation and pay the fine from a red-light camera or school bus stop-arm camera don’t commit another violation…” said Territo.
The benefit of making the driver pay for their fine is that it allows them the opportunity to refute the ticket if they believe it was unjust or if there were extenuating circumstances surrounding them getting the ticket. A lesson learned can help to minimize the number of infractions that are occurring. Long story short, can’t pay the fine? Don’t do the crime.
About the author:
Dan Deary is president of All Pro Truck Body Shop, a heavy truck body shop located in Phoenix Arizona, specializing in commercial body shop and fleet painting services.