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The U.S. General Services Administration has awarded a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) contract to San Diego-based SmartDrive Systems. The BPA enables fleet managers at federal agencies and departments to quickly acquire SmartDrive in-vehicle video recording and instant driver feedback systems. View the SmartDrive vehicle monitoring system video.

The BPA enables federal departments to fill recurring supply needs efficiently.

The SmartDrive system uses video, audio and electronic control unit-connected vehicle data sensors to detect and record risky and erratic driving maneuvers such as sudden stops, hard cornering, aggressive acceleration and excessive speed. The monitor provides instant feedback to drivers, using a system of LED lights to signal fuel-wasting driving maneuvers. The system teaches motorists to drive more fuel efficiently, which saves money and reduces carbon emissions.

“As both our public and private sector customers have seen, in-vehicle video and data recording is an effective way to improve fleet productivity, cut down on fuel use and emissions, and reduce risky driving and collisions,” said Jason Palmer, president of SmartDrive. “Now, U.S. government fleets can use this breakthrough fuel-reduction and risk-prevention technology to meet the lower distracted driving and fuel consumption mandates called for by President Obama in Executive Orders 13513 and 13514."

The SmartDrive system video device captures events before and after risky incidents to reveal their causes. Recorded data is downloaded wirelessly and sent to safety analysts who categorize and score the events according to more than 50 safety observations. Fleet managers use the results to improve fleet performance and overall driving safety, resulting in up to an 80 percent reduction in collisions.

"Every hour spent idling wastes nearly a gallon of fuel, and causes unnecessary emissions,” Palmer said. “And every 5 miles per hour over 55 reduces fuel efficiency by 5 percent. By improving gas mileage through instant in-cab feedback to the driver on fuel-wasting driving maneuvers and excessive speeds, fleets are running cleaner and more efficiently with SmartDrive — saving up to 33 percent in fuel costs.”

The company recently issued the SmartDrive 2010 Distracted Driving Index, which looked at the trends and causes of distracted driving among commercial drivers during 2010. The index is based on 14 million video events captured by SmartDrive in-vehicle recorders, involving more than 34,000 commercial drivers.

Within the public sector, the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Army have tested SmartDrive units in their fleets. In addition, SmartDrive currently has one government agency client, Access Services, the Los Angeles County, Calif., Consolidated Transportation Services Agency, which provides paratransit fleet services to more than 90,000 disabled passengers yearly.