TRANSPORTATION & WAREHOUSING

Crum Trucking reduces accidents by 50% with Samsara's safety solution

With Samsara, this carrier runs safety, trailer tracking, and navigation for more than 200 drivers on one platform—cutting crashes by 50%, severe speeding by 88%, and idling costs by 44%.

Powered by the Samsara Connected Operations Platform

Meet Crum Trucking

200 DRIVERS

800 TRAILERS

200 TRACTORS

The Challenge

Unreliable cameras, disconnected systems, and costly claims

Crum Trucking is an Indiana-based carrier that moves outbound freight for manufacturers across all 48 contiguous states and into Canada. For years, the safety team operated with limited visibility into what happened on the road. Crum’s previous dash cams recorded to SD cards, drew power from the cigarette lighter, and frequently failed. Footage couldn't be retrieved remotely, so the team waited for drivers to return to the yard at the end of the week to swap cards. Without dependable video, the company had limited evidence to defend itself against the claims and litigation that come with operating heavy equipment on public roads.

The technology that was already in place was spread across separate systems. "We had trailer tracking with one provider, hours of service with another, and cameras with a third," said Tom Grills, Director of Safety. "It was clunky—you're pulling up monitors, minimizing windows, and jumping back and forth just to see one event." Additionally, fuel costs climbed with little insight into idling, and navigation was left to drivers, who worked from a paper atlas or a consumer GPS unit, with no help routing around low bridges or weight-restricted roads.

We only have four people in safety—it works because we’re using Samsara to our advantage. When you're dealing with 200 drivers, you'll take all the technology you can get—otherwise you'd be on the phone all day.

Tom Grills

Director of Safety

The Solution

Consolidating three systems onto one platform, with driver buy-in built in

Crum's first move to Samsara was an AI Dash Cam deployment that replaced the SD-card system. A multi-year agreement with its incumbent telematics vendor kept hours of service and trailer tracking elsewhere for a time, so the company ran two platforms side by side and transitioned in stages. Today, everything runs in Samsara: trailer tracking, hours of service, video, and driver workflows on a single platform. And the footprint continues to grow. The company added AI Multicam for 360-degree visibility, equipped nearly 800 trailers with Asset Gateways, and put Commercial Navigation on the same tablet drivers already use for hours of service. "Samsara has everything on one platform," said Grills. "From hours of service to downloading video to managing drivers, it's nice to have it all in one place."

To encourage adoption, safety incentive payouts were awarded to drivers with a Samsara Safety Score of 95+, and top-driver lists were published by manager so recognition was spread across the fleet. Day-to-day communication moved onto the tablet drivers already carry: a 20-minute weekly company meeting, event videos used for training, and Kudos when a driver strings together a good run.

CAMERAS & VIDEO

50% fewer crashes and $25K saved from idling using Samsara Competitions

AI Dash Cams gave Crum Trucking reliable video and in-cab coaching for the first time, and the rest of its safety program was built on top of that foundation. The team tied its safety incentive payout to Samsara Safety Scores and used competitions, kudos, and AI start-of-day briefings to keep more than 200 drivers engaged. A month-long safe speed competition cut severe speeding by 88%, while an idle competition brought total idle time down by 33% and idle costs down by 44%, saving roughly $25,000. Since rolling out Samsara’s safety solution, Crum Trucking reduced crashes by 50% and distracted driving by 83%.

TRAILER TRACKING

Visibility into utilization informs trailer reallocation and new purchases

Crum Trucking runs a fleet of nearly 800 trailers, much of it sitting at customer facilities that hold its equipment under contract. With Samsara trailer tracking, the team can see where every one of them is, how long it has been stationary, and utilization rate. That visibility now drives which trailers come back for preventive maintenance and when new equipment is truly needed. "Samsara's trailer utilization data means we can allocate the resources we already have instead of making another trailer purchase down the road," said Keith Maucher, Equipment Coordinator.

COMMERCIAL NAVIGATION

811 restricted-road events avoided in 30 days, including 101 potential bridge strikes

Before Samsara, routing was left to drivers: a paper atlas or a consumer GPS unit that wasn't built for commercial vehicles. Samsara Commercial Navigation now runs on the same tablet drivers already use for hours of service, routing around low bridges, weight-restricted roads, and other hazards a passenger-car GPS doesn't account for. In a single 30-day period, Crum was routed around 811 restricted roads, including 101 low bridges, worth roughly $41,000 in potential fines and damage costs. Crum has not had a bridge strike since rolling Commercial Navigation out.

Ready to team up?

We're ready when you are. Let's talk about what your operation needs.