The city is about to start tracking all of its workers’ on-the-clock driving habits and fuel usage with the help of technology more advanced than that of of current “black boxes.”
While the event-data recorders that are now in use can store only a few minutes of information, the new gadgets — called CANceivers — are able to record between half a year and a year’s worth of data.
And while the EDRs — commonly called black boxes — are typically accessed only after a major crash, data from the new technology can be readily downloaded daily to provide information on a variety of vehicle details — including speed, idling time, harsh braking, maintenance needs, oil pressure and mileage.
The technology will give the city a snapshot of its entire fleet everyday and of city workers’ driving behaviors, from speeding to wasteful idling, sources said. The CANceivers will also be able to give investigators detailed information when city vehicles crash or hit pedestrians.
“This enables a fleet manager to study driving behaviors and help prevent collisions and improper use, as well as help determine what happened when collisions or violations do occur,” Robert Kettyle, a vice president of Texas-based device manufacturer EJ Ward, told The Post.
The new devices will be installed in 15,000 city vehicles — including those used by the Fire, Sanitation and Transportation departments — by the end of the year as part of a $6.7 million project, according to a spokesman with the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.
NYPD and Parks Department vehicles already have CANceivers — but they use an older version, so their devices will be updated, sources said.
The contract for the car tech was signed last year, but the installation is listed as part of Mayor de Blasio’s “Vision Zero” plan to end all traffic deaths in 10 years.
The devices should also help the city financially — tracking fuel usage at filling stations by showing how much and what types of fuels are used by city agencies, as well as by individual vehicles — proponents of the plan said. The wireless, paper-free system will help the city more efficiently manage its fuel supply, which could prove critical for future “superstorms” that may even exceed Hurricane Sandy, according to Kettyle.
The fuel and maintenance benefits are expected to save the city millions of dollars, boosters claim.
The city fleet has been involved in some tragic accidents recently, including an incident involving the death of a man studying to be a rabbi. Gedalia Gruntzweig, 25, of New Jersey, was in the city for a friend’s engagement party when he was struck by a Sanitation truck while crossing a street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, at around 9:00 a.m. on Feb. 23.
Security-camera footage showed the truck had a green light, but law-
enforcement sources told The Post that Gruntzweig had the “walk” signal and was in a crosswalk when he was fatally hit.
And in 2012, a Sanitation truck struck and killed Andrew Schooner, 31, of Florida, while he was on the Upper East Side.
The city also plans to improve the safety of its vehicle operators by expanding its defensive-driver courses.
And the DCAS will recommend other safety-related devices and designs for its fleet — such as vehicle back-up cameras and rear-wheel-side guards, sources said.