E-SMART Seat Belt monitors drivers’ use of seat belts and limits vehicle speeds until seat belts are worn

E-SMART, a leading Dynamic Speed Management provider, announces the E-SMART Seat Belt, the newest innovation based on its Dynamic Speed Management technology. This seat belt is customizable by fleets, E-SMART Seat Belt detects whether or not the driver is wearing the seat belt and limits (or slows the vehicle) to a predetermined speed.

“We saw the statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that 69.3% of the drivers who died in crashes in 2022 were not wearing seat belts as heartbreaking,” said Joe Thell, senior vice president at E-SMART. “When asked by fleets to help solve this problem, we knew that our technology could make a difference in having drivers wear their seat belts. With E-SMART Seat Belt, we can detect and monitor seat belt use under different conditions. The fleet can then provide the operational rules of what happens under each condition.”

E-SMART Seat Belt addresses seat belt non-compliance in a variety of circumstances such as:

• General driving – When a driver is not wearing a seat belt the vehicle will not go above a nominal, set speed. These instances are also captured in an event report.
• Inside Speed-Controlled Geofenced Zones – Fleets can create custom parameters for zones (i.e. limiting speed). Reporting is also available for events in geofenced zones.
  
• Other situations such seat belt malfunction, or if it is removed while the vehicle is in motion are also part of the comprehensive and flexible solution.
  

“Announcing E-SMART Seat Belt as the summer traffic season begins and national safety initiatives such as Click It or Ticket high-visibility enforcement campaign has just concluded is timely,” Thell continued. “We are pleased to do anything we can to help raise awareness and reduce injuries and fatalities that could be avoided by simply buckling a seat belt. “E-SMART Seat Belt is just one more example of how our incredibly powerful Dynamic Speed Management technology can be applied in unique ways to improve driver and public safety.”

E-SMART Seat Belt will be commercially available in the 3rd Quarter.

Using advanced positioning technology, the E-SMART system determines the location of vehicles in real time and allows fleets to manage and customize vehicle speeds to posted speed limits using the E-SMART customer portal. The E-SMART system communicates with the truck’s onboard computer to control the throttle. E-SMART integrates with onboard telematics units to provide drivers with verbal notifications and an enhanced user experience.