ABOVE: A screenshot of Martin County’s new PreCise Fleet Management software, which tracks the county’s shifts.
FAIRMONT– Martin County has new advanced technology to help the highway department plow county roads. PreCise Fleet Management Software provides the ability to track the province’s 17 units as they move.
County Engineer Kevin Peyman said the county did a demo of the program in the summer of 2023 and the Martin County Board of Commissioners approved the purchase of the software in late spring of 2024.
“We haven’t had it all winter yet,” Peyman said.
The new tracking software is included in the twelve tandem wagons and five motor graders. The one-time installation cost was $3,275, after which it will cost approximately $4,320 annually.
Peyman said he heard about the software through a company that sells equipment to the county.
He described the software as having multiple benefits.
“You can see in real time where the trucks are. It also allows us to respond to questions or concerns that we were previously unable to answer.” Peyman said
He said if someone calls and says a truck drove past their house at 70 miles per hour, they can look it up and see what speed a truck was traveling at a certain time on a certain route.
Likewise, Peyman said if someone calls and says he didn’t see a motor grader driving by, he can look it up and see what day and time a truck drove by and at what speed.
“It helps us provide better information when people have concerns or complaints,” he explained.
Peyman emphasized that the purpose of the software is not to control police personnel, but that it can also protect them in some cases.
“It’s a benefit if there’s ever a concern that someone is misusing their time,” he said. “But it is mainly to protect them, because if there is a complaint that they are driving too fast or have not passed by, we can look it up.”
The software is kept for about a year, so Peyman can go back at any time, on any day, and replay the route of any of the 17 trucks.
He doesn’t spend a lot of time sitting and looking at the software that tracks the fleet, but said it will be a good tool to look at when needed.
Since this is the first season of using the software, Peyman says there is still a learning curve to understand all of its capabilities.
“If someone says, ‘I came across one of your trucks on the road and it threw a rock at my car and we want to make insurance out of it,’ we can pick them up and say, ‘Sorry we don’t ‘there was a truck on the road at that time.’ It’s just useful information.” Peyman said.
Although not fully used yet, Peyman said the software also has the ability to track how much salt and sand is being spread on the roads.
“When we get to that point, we can see how much material is being put down. There may come a time when we need to keep track of how much is being raised. I think our goal is to eventually do that,” Peyman said.
