Patent ID: 7117121

Claim:
A method for verifying whether a post-trip inspection of a vehicle has been performed, comprising the steps of: (a) detecting that the vehicle has completed a trip; (b) after the trip has been completed, transmitting a signal indicating that a person has moved through the vehicle to a predefined location within the vehicle, while nominally conducting the post-trip inspection of the vehicle; and (c) determining whether the signal has been received before a predefined event occurs, and if not, determining that the person has not yet completed the post-trip inspection of the vehicle, wherein if it is determined that the person has not yet completed the post-trip inspection of the vehicle, performing at least one of the following functions: (i) storing data indicating that the person has not yet completed the post-trip inspection of the vehicle; (ii) displaying a status message indicating that the person has not yet completed the post-trip inspection of the vehicle; and (iii) producing an alarm.