Tracking the Fleet | Video

Rene Thibault | 1/16/2013

With thousands of employees and hundreds of crews across the country, oil companies need a way to keep track of their workers and equipment. To help with that, Bakken Fleet Trax, a GPS tracking company based in Minot, has created a new driver management system. It transmits real-time data from company vehicles back to an oil company’s management team. The system tracks location, miles driven, fuel used as well as driving habits like speed, acceleration and stopping distance.

The GPS system helps companies train better drivers to protect their business and their industry. “If someone is driving excessively fast, it`ll pick up on that right away and it`s up to the company or supervisor to go back to that driver and review his driving habits,” stated Mark Schmidt, a Managing Partner for Bakken Fleet Trax.

“We need to have people behave in a more appropriate manner. And we don`t want a video of a truck going through with a logo on the side of it that ends up on YouTube that is in an accident. It just makes the whole oil company look bad, or the whole industry look bad,” added Dan Albertson.

Oil companies can view their vehicles online or by smartphone apps. Companies are able to send or receive messages from their drivers through the Bakken Fleet Trax. With the appropriate hardware, a vehicle’s starter can even be disabled. If there are emergency situations, EMS crews can use the GPS unit in the vehicles to accurate locate the workers.

Whether it’s used for cost saving, data retrieval, or as a training tool, systems like the Bakken Fleet Trax are sure to be a favorite of companies with a country-wide footprint. For more information on the uses of these GPS systems, visit their website at BakkenFleetTrax.com.

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