Silver Eagle Houston Delivers Driver Safety with Lytx Video Telematics

SAN DIEGO, June 23, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Lytx^®, a leading global provider of machine vision and artificial intelligence-powered video telematics solutions, today announced outstanding program results from Silver Eagle Distributors Houston, LLC ("Silver Eagle Houston") a Houston-based beverage distribution fleet using Lytx's Driver Safety Program and Fleet Tracking Service.

"We are proud to work with a best-in-class company like Silver Eagle Houston, whose core values around protecting their drivers and the community are well-aligned with our passion for safety," said Lytx vice president of safety, Del Lisk. "Because of those values, they have high expectations for a video telematics solution that not only helps them proactively protect their drivers and provides a strong return on investment, but one that will be a true benefit to their fleet. With the Lytx Driver Safety program, they are getting invaluable insights into driver performance and consistently reinforcing their company safety culture — with impressive results."

Since deploying, Silver Eagle Houston has achieved dramatic improvements in the incidence and severity of risky driving behaviors, including the lowest risk per vehicle in the Company's history.

"When we first deployed Lytx event recorders, we were looking to better understand the behaviors of our drivers and the challenges they face on the roads," said Brian Kirk, Silver Eagle's senior vice president and chief information officer. "Now, we couldn't imagine our fleet without this technology. Not only has Lytx helped us achieve safer driving across our fleet and decreased our liability, but the technology has also encouraged our drivers to be more proactive about their safety and the overall safety of the Silver Eagle community."

The Driver Safety Program uses Lytx's industry-leading DriveCam^® event recorders to capture data around risky driving. That data is reviewed by both professional analysts and advanced machine vision and artificial intelligence algorithms to identify specific unsafe behaviors. This information is delivered to fleets, like Silver Eagle Houston, in the form of customized, prescriptive coaching workflows. With this pinpointed information about risk in their fleet, companies can work with drivers to help improve habits and prevent collisions before they happen.

Silver Eagle Houston has used this platform to achieve strong safety results. In the past 15-months, the Company has recognized:

• 41% decrease in frequency of risky driving incidents
• 44% decrease in the level of severity of risky driving
• 31% decrease in traffic violations
• 19% decrease in incidents of distracted driving
• 48% improvement in late response behaviors
• 72% decrease in unsafe following distance behaviors
• 74% decrease in driving without a seatbelt

A Positive Incentive Program to Complement the Driver Safety Program

Silver Eagle Houston, is one of the largest independent beer distributors in the nation distributing beer, craft spirits and several non-alcoholic beverages to approximately 9,000 accounts in the Houston-area. The Company was concerned about the risk of driving on both freeways and surface streets, and wanted a reliable solution that could be tailored to fit the Company's fleet needs to help improve driver safety. Lytx's video telematics solution stood out for its ability to deliver valuable insights in an effective format for coaching and evaluation. 

When Silver Eagle Houston first implemented Lytx technology, its leaders were proactive in educating the entire Company about how they would be using DriveCam. As a result, drivers had a clear picture of the technology's role in their vehicles and how it would be used to help improve their driving and safety.

Mitch Miller, Silver Eagle Houston's director of health, safety and environmental, cited their strategic approach to change management as a major factor in Silver Eagle Houston's success. As one way of encouraging accountability and a positive approach to improving driving behaviors, the Silver Eagle Houston team developed a quarterly program to recognize top coaches and drivers called "Road Safety Champions." Based on Lytx data and as a part of the Road Safety Champions program, the drivers with the fewest number of coached events throughout the quarter are named Drivers of the Quarter; similarly, Coaches of the Quarter are chosen based on Lytx's metrics on how effectively they are coaching drivers.

"The Lytx Driver Safety Program has been instrumental in creating change in our fleet and encouraging safer driving," said Miller. "In fact, we've had to begin reworking our recognition program now that multiple drivers every quarter are achieving zero coached events — a problem we are more than happy to have!"

A Company-Wide Shift Towards Proactive Safety 

Now several years into its deployment, Silver Eagle Houston has seen cultural changes that go beyond the statistical improvements in safe driving. Not only have the Road Safety Champion awards made safe driving a point of pride, drivers are now more engaged than ever in working with their managers to review and discuss incidents if and when they do occur.

"After several years with Lytx, I now have drivers calling me up to ask about incidents, often before I can even flag the event for them," said Miller. "They want to see the full picture of what happened, where they could have improved and how they can do better next time they are on the road. This attitude shift — from being nervous around the cameras to counting on the additional vision they are able to provide — truly affirms our decision to deploy the Lytx Driver Safety Program and demonstrates the power that the technology can deliver."

About Silver Eagle Distributors Houston, LLC
Silver Eagle Distributors Houston, LLC is one of the largest independent beer distributors in the nation. The company employs more than 1,000 team members, serving the metropolitan Houston-area to include the counties of Fort Bend, Montgomery and a significant portion of Harris County. Operations include its Houston corporate office and warehouse as well as warehouse operations in Conroe, Cypress, Pasadena and Rosenberg. Silver Eagle Houston distributes a broad selection of domestic and import brands, as well as microbrews and craft beers, craft spirits and several non-alcoholic beverages and waters. For more information, visit silvereagle.com and check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

About Lytx
Lytx^® is a leading provider of video telematics, analytics, safety and productivity solutions for commercial, public sector and field services fleets. Our unrivaled Driver Safety Program, powered by our best-in-class DriveCam^® Event Recorder, is proven to help save lives and reduce risk. We harness the power of video to help clients see what happened in the past, manage their operations more efficiently in the present and improve driver behavior to change the future. Our customizable services and programs span driver safety, risk detection, fleet tracking, compliance and fuel management. Using the world's largest driving database of its kind, along with proprietary machine vision and artificial intelligence technology, we help protect and connect thousands of fleets and more than millions of drivers worldwide. For more information on Lytx telematics system, visit www.lytx.com, @lytx on Twitter, LinkedIn, our Facebook page or our YouTube channel.

SOURCE Lytx