Fight against vehicle theft, hijacks – Big Brother in vehicle cab, real time.

From adversity comes strength. Or in South Africa’s case, from crime comes solutions. One of the unintended consequences of the change in Government in 1994 was that as the old Apartheid Government appointees moved out, it wasn’t just the new democratically elected representatives that moved in. Organised crime syndicates targeted the vacuum, pushing crime rates to the highest on earth – especially in vehicle theft and hijackings. As a result a highly sophisticated vehicle tracking industry has developed. John Edmeston, CEO of Cartrack, today took the wraps off another world-beating innovation and provided a disturbing update – over the past four months, criminal activity has started rising strongly once more. – AH

ALEC HOGG: We’re good at some things in South Africa. Tracking our cars that are stolen is probably one of the best of them. Cartrack is the only vehicle tracking company in the country though that offers a payment of up to R150, 000.00 if your car is stolen, hijacked, and then not recovered. The company is launching Drive Vision that focuses on safety by means of on-board audio and visual equipment paired with comprehensive telematics technology – quite a mouthful. John Edmeston is the Chief Executive of Cartrack. Why are we so good at this? Is it because so many of our cars are stolen? I think Matrix are doing very well internationally. You guys are obviously, too.

JOHN EDMESTON: Well, I think South Africa is probably a world leader in stolen vehicle tracking/recovery.

ALEC HOGG: Why?

JOHN EDMESTON: We’ve had so much experience over many years. It really goes back to about 1994 – that long, nearly 20 years.

ALEC HOGG: That our cars have been stolen – is that why?

JOHN EDMESTON: The sophistication of the syndicates and vehicle theft is significant, so over the years we’ve honed our techniques and our technology so I believe we are leading experts in that.

ALEC HOGG: Are they starting to leave us alone – these crime syndicates?

JOHN EDMESTON: No, unfortunately not. If I can just say from Cartrack statistics, just even in the last four months or so we’ve seen an uptick in the rate of theft and hijackings.

ALEC HOGG: Why would that be?

JOHN EDMESTON: We’ve become very busy. We don’t really know. It’s just another upward trend. Maybe it’s the opportunity. The economic situation could possibly be a driver of some sort as well.

ALEC HOGG: But organised crime doesn’t care about economics.

JOHN EDMESTON: I think it could be that the fabric of our society is tainted by this, too.

ALEC HOGG: What about Drive Vision? What’s that all about?

JOHN EDMESTON: Well, Drive Vision is an in-vehicle camera, primarily targeted at fleet management organisations and/or taxis, buses, and any public transport where it gives you the occurrence of certain events. For example, harsh braking accidents and speeding etcetera – all on demand, for that matter. It gives you video clips of what’s occurring both within the cab, as well as in front of the vehicle.

ALEC HOGG: Real time.

JOHN EDMESTON: Real time. It’s passed through on a web system and the client would have access to those videos within minutes, really, on a website.

ALEC HOGG: And what does it cost?

JOHN EDMESTON: The cost is in the region of R8000.00-odd for the hardware (that would be the installed unit) and the monthly, depending on what package one would choose, it’s from round about R500.00/month upwards.

ALEC HOGG: So if you’re running a trucking business, you don’t really know at the moment what are you guys are up to, but if you put a camera in their cab, you’d know if they’re picking up sfebhe’s (prostitutes)

JOHN EDMESTON: Correct. I think the standard telematics device that would be in a vehicle, would give you a lot of driving behaviour information. However, often seeing is believing, so if you can actually see what is going on, both within the cab as well as on the road ahead, and it gives you a lot more information. It’s not just a ‘big brother is watching the driver’.

ALEC HOGG: It sounds a bit like a big brother.

JOHN EDMESTON: It sounds like that but actually, I think the benefits go far beyond that and there are many instances where the driver has been protected by it because he could be involved in an accident. He could be blamed for the accident, the witnesses could say the truck driver was the cause, and the video clips could actually determine completely otherwise and protect the driver as well as the organisation from liability.

ALEC HOGG: I guess that if you have a camera on you, you behave differently if somebody’s watching you as opposed to when somebody isn’t. In a case like this as you say, the guy’s hardly going to be asleep at the wheel.

JOHN EDMESTON: Yes. You know you’re being monitored on the one hand for your own benefit, potentially as well as for the…

ALEC HOGG: What’s the take-up been like?

JOHN EDMESTON: Well, we’ve only just launched it, so we currently have a lot of demonstrations out there and the interest level is very high.

ALEC HOGG: Well, for R500.00/month – no doubt.

JOHN EDMESTON: Per kilometre that an expensive vehicle would travel, it goes down and the costs works out to maybe a couple of cents per kilometre.

ALEC HOGG: Good stuff. Innovation. South African. That was John Edmeston, Chief Executive of Cartrack.

GoHighLevel
gohighlevel gohighlevel login gohighlevel pricing gohighlevel crm gohighlevel api gohighlevel support gohighlevel review gohighlevel logo what is gohighlevel gohighlevel affiliate gohighlevel integrations gohighlevel features gohighlevel app gohighlevel reviews gohighlevel training gohighlevel snapshots gohighlevel zapier app gohighlevel gohighlevel alternatives Agency Arcade, About Us - Agency Arcade, Contact Us - Agency Arcade, Our Services - Agency Arcade gohighlevel pricegohighlevel pricing guidegohighlevel api gohighlevel officialgohighlevel plansgohighlevel Funnelsgohighlevel Free Trialgohighlevel SAASgohighlevel Websitesgohighlevel Experts