Putting a Name to Every Journey: Why Fleets Need Driver ID

Vehicle tracking tells you where a van went, how fast it travelled and how long it sat idling. What it can't tell you on its own is who was inside it.

For many fleets, that's a real blind spot. Vans often change hands between shifts, and engineers and crews share vehicles as they move between jobs throughout the day. The vehicle data is all there, but the people are missing from it.  

The usual ways to fill that gap rely on someone remembering to do something, whether that's signing a sheet, logging in to an app or tapping a card. On a busy morning, those steps are easy to miss.

That's why we built our new Driver and Occupant beacons which are designed to identify who is in each vehicle automatically, without anyone having to think about it.

What Are Driver and Occupant Beacons?

Driver and Occupant beacons (sometimes called Bluetooth ID tags) are small devices that each employee carries with them. Most people clip theirs to a work lanyard or add it to their personal keys, so it’s easily accessible.

When they get into a vehicle, a compatible RAM vehicle tracker picks up their beacon automatically. There's nothing to tap, scan or switch on. Each journey is then linked to the right people, whether that's a lone driver or a full crew.

Why Knowing Who's in the Vehicle Matters

Your duty of care covers everyone travelling for work. The Health and Safety Executive points to Department for Transport figures suggesting more than a quarter of all road traffic incidents may involve someone driving for work. It also makes clear that health and safety law applies to work on the road just as it does to any other work activity.

If something happens on a journey, one of the first questions is who was in the vehicle. With beacons, you don't need to piece it together from rotas or phone calls. The answer is already in your journey history.

That record also helps with the everyday running of your fleet. It lets you:

• See which employees were present during each journey.

• Link journeys to the right people when vans are shared.

• Answer questions about a journey quickly, without relying on memory.

No Taps, No Logins, No Reminders

Most driver ID systems only work if people use them properly every time. That's where they fall down. A forgotten sign in means a gap in your records, and chasing staff to fix it adds admin nobody wants.

Beacons take that step away completely. Because detection is automatic, the data doesn't depend on anyone remembering. Drivers get on with their day, and you get a complete record in the background.

How RAM Beacons Work

1. Issue a beacon to each person - Beacons are self-service, so there's no engineer visit needed. Each employee who uses your vehicles gets their own beacon.

2. Attach it and forget it - Employees clip the beacon to their lanyard or add it to their personal keys, so it goes wherever they go.

3. Your tracker does the rest - A compatible RAM vehicle tracker detects every beacon in the vehicle automatically, with no action from the driver or passengers.

4. Every journey shows who was on board - When one beacon is detected, that person is shown as the driver. When several are detected, they're shown as occupants. You can see this across Live Map, Route Replay, the RAM mobile app and your reports.

Because there's no reader to fit, beacons are quick to roll out. That makes them easy to issue across a whole team, including new starters and staff who move between vehicles.

Where Beacons Make the Biggest Difference

Beacons suit any fleet that wants reliable journey records without adding steps to the working day. They work well for:

• Shared vans and pool vehicles where different people drive on different days.

• Construction and trades teams who often travel to site together.

• Engineering and maintenance teams who move between vehicles across the day.

• Growing businesses that need a simple way to add new starters without extra installation.

Beacons vs Driver Fobs

Beacons aren't our only driver ID option. We also offer driver fobs, sometimes known as iButtons. Each driver taps their own fob on a reader before setting off, which links the journey to them.

The key difference is what each one tells you. When only one beacon is detected on a journey, that person is shown as the driver. If several beacons are detected and one is picked up for noticeably longer than the others, that person is shown as the driver. Otherwise, everyone is shown as occupants alongside the vehicle's default driver. Fobs, on the other hand, always identify the driver but won't show who else was travelling.

That distinction matters when a driver needs to be named. Under section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, the registered keeper is responsible for knowing who is driving the vehicle at all times. Failing to give information about the identity of a driver is recorded as an MS90 offence and carries six penalty points. If that's your main concern, a driver fob gives you a clear, deliberate answer.

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If you want complete journey records with no effort from your team, beacons are the better fit. If your priority is knowing exactly who was behind the wheel, fobs are designed for that.

Using Occupancy Data Fairly

Beacons work in the background, so being open with your team matters. The Information Commissioner's Office published guidance on monitoring workers in 2023. It sets out that employers should tell workers about the nature, extent and reasons for monitoring, have a clearly defined purpose and use the least intrusive means to achieve it.

In practice, that means explaining why beacons are being introduced and how the data will be used before you hand them out. For vehicles used privately outside working hours, a driver privacy switch can sit alongside your beacons.

Seeing Everyone on Every Journey

Good fleet data answers three questions: where, when and who. Tracking has handled the first two for years. Beacons add the people, linking every journey to the right team members without asking anyone to change how they work.

If you'd like to see how beacons would work across your fleet, book a free demo with our team.

Driver and Occupant Beacon FAQs

Will beacons work with my existing RAM trackers?

Beacons work with compatible RAM trackers, so many existing customers can add them without changing hardware. Our team can check which of your vehicles are ready for beacons before you order.

How many beacons will I need?

You'll need one beacon for each person you want to log. Every employee has their own beacon, so each person's journeys are recorded against their name.

What happens if someone forgets their beacon?

If no beacon is detected, the journey will show the vehicle's default driver. If no default driver has been set, it will show as Unknown. Keeping beacons on lanyards or personal keys makes this less likely, as they go wherever the employee goes.

Can I see who's in a vehicle while it's on the road?

Yes, you can see who's in a vehicle as it travels. Occupant details show on Live Map and in the RAM mobile app, so you can check from the office or on the move.

Can I look back at who travelled on past journeys?

Yes, you can review past journeys in Route Replay and your reports. Each journey shows the driver where one has been identified, along with any occupants detected.

Can beacons identify the driver?

Yes, beacons can identify the driver in many cases. If only one beacon is detected, that person is shown as the driver. If several are detected, the system shows the driver when one beacon is picked up for noticeably longer than the others.