How to Configure Safety Alerts in Samsara
What Will You Learn in This Quick Summary?
Safety alerts tell you about risky driving while you can still act on it. A well-configured alert system warns drivers in the cab, notifies managers by email or SMS, and feeds events into a review queue for coaching. This guide explains how to configure safety alerts in Samsara, from detection settings to notification rules, so that your team sees the events that matter and ignores the noise.
Samsara – GPS Fleet Tracking Software separates safety alerting into two layers. Detection settings decide what the system treats as a safety event, and alert configurations decide who hears about it and how. In this article, you will learn how to tune each layer, which settings control in-cab feedback, and how to avoid alert fatigue.
What you will cover:
- How the two layers of safety alerting work
- Detection settings for harsh driving, speeding, and AI-detected behaviors
- In-cab audio alerts and Nudges
- Alert configurations for email, SMS, and other channels
- Best practices and common mistakes
How Do Safety Alerts Work in Samsara?
What Is the Difference Between Detection and Alerting?
Detection comes first. Samsara identifies unsafe behavior through the Vehicle Gateway (VG), which senses events such as harsh driving and speeding, and through AI-enabled dash cams, which detect behaviors such as distracted driving and unsafe following distance. Each detection generates a safety event that appears in reports and in the Safety Inbox for review.
Alerting comes second. After an event occurs, an alert configuration can notify people in real time. Therefore, you must enable and tune the detection before an alert has anything to report.
What Does Each Layer Control?
| Layer | What It Controls | Where You Configure It |
|---|---|---|
| Event detection | Which behaviors count as events and at what thresholds | Fleet settings > Safety |
| In-cab alerts | Tones or voice coaching that the driver hears | Fleet settings > Safety > Coaching |
| Alert configurations | Notifications sent to managers or other recipients | The Alerts page |
| Safety Inbox | The queue where reviewers evaluate events | Safety section of the dashboard |
What Should You Prepare Before You Configure Alerts?
Preparation prevents rework. Complete these steps first:
- Confirm hardware. AI detections require dash cams with AI capabilities, while harsh driving and speeding rely on the Vehicle Gateway.
- Finish calibration. Harsh event detection begins only after calibration completes, so verify that your devices have calibrated.
- Check permissions. Your user role must allow changes to Fleet safety settings and alerts.
- Define your priorities. Decide which behaviors create the most risk for your operation, and start there.
- Identify recipients. List the people who should receive each type of alert, such as safety managers, regional supervisors, or dispatchers.
Additionally, decide whether you want fleet-wide rules or vehicle-specific rules. Samsara lets you customize safety settings per vehicle, and individual vehicle settings take precedence over fleet-wide settings.
How Do You Configure Detection Settings?
How Do You Set Up Harsh Event Detection?
Harsh event detection covers harsh acceleration, harsh braking, and harsh turns. To adjust it, open Fleet settings and select Safety > Harsh Events. Then set the Harsh Event Sensitivity for each category according to your dash cam model.
Understand the relationship between sensitivity and thresholds. A higher sensitivity level lowers the g-force threshold that triggers an event, so more events appear. Samsara applies recommended settings based on the detected vehicle type, and you can customize the vehicle type to improve accuracy. Start with the defaults, review the event volume for two weeks, and then adjust.
How Do You Configure Speeding Settings?
Samsara uses severity definitions to classify speeding events. From Fleet > Safety > Event Detection, open the Speeding settings and adjust the threshold and duration for each severity level. The Over Limit setting defines the maximum speed for each level.
Severity levels matter for three reasons. They organize data in Speeding Reports, they influence driver safety scores, and they drive speeding alerts. By default, severity definitions count events regardless of duration. However, you can enable Apply speeding severity levels to Scoring & Reporting so that only events exceeding the duration threshold affect the score. This option removes minor violations from the data.
How Do You Enable AI Event Detection?
AI-enabled dash cams detect behaviors such as following distance, distracted driving, mobile usage, drowsiness, and rolling stops. Each detection has its own settings. The examples below show the typical options.
| Detection | Where to Enable | Key Settings |
|---|---|---|
| Following Distance | Fleet > Safety > AI Event Detection | Speed threshold (35, 45, or 55 mph) and duration (15, 30, or 60 seconds) |
| Rolling Stop | Fleet > Safety > Event Detection | Minimum speed threshold before an event triggers |
| Other AI detections | Safety settings | Speed thresholds, severity levels, and minimum duration |
Samsara documents default values for some detections. For following distance, the default speed threshold is 45 mph and the default duration is 30 seconds. Review the recommendations for AI event detection before you enable it, because proper camera placement and vehicle settings improve accuracy.
How Do You Customize Safety Settings for Individual Vehicles?
Fleet-wide settings work for most vehicles, but some units need different rules. Use per-vehicle settings when vehicle types, routes, or duties differ.
What Is the Workflow?
- Open Fleet settings and select Safety.
- At the top of Safety Settings, select Edit Individual Vehicles.
- Find the vehicles by Tags or Current Settings.
- Select Enabled to activate AI detection for the chosen vehicles, or Disabled to turn it off.
- Tune the thresholds, severity levels, and minimum durations that apply.
Which Settings Can You Customize?
Per-vehicle options include harsh event detection, forward collision warning, distracted driving, mobile usage, drowsiness, following distance, lane departure warning, camera and audio recording, speeding settings, in-cab voice coaching, in-cab Nudges, and policy violations such as no seat belt detection. Accurate vehicle type settings also improve the accuracy of features like following distance and forward collision warnings.
How Do You Configure In-Cab Audio Alerts and Nudges?
In-cab alerts give drivers instant feedback, which often corrects behavior before a manager ever sees an event.
How Do You Set Fleet-Wide Audio Alerts?
Follow this workflow:
- From Fleet settings, select Safety > Coaching.
- Choose the Audio Alert Type to apply across detection types. Options include a voiceless Tone Only alert and voice coaching.
- Select the Driving Events to Coach with audio alerts.
- Enable audio alerts inside each detection’s settings.
- Select Submit to confirm.
When audio alerts are enabled in a detection’s settings, the alert type reflects your fleet-level choice. Examples of voice prompts include “Harsh event detected” for harsh driving and “Reduce speed” for speeding. The system can also remind unassigned drivers to sign in before driving.
What Are Nudges?
Nudges are in-cab alerts for AI-detected behaviors. For behavior types that have Nudges enabled, drivers do not receive a notification for an event until the Nudges threshold is met. After the threshold is met, the driver receives an alert for each safety event that Samsara promotes from a Nudge.
This design gives drivers a chance to self-correct before an event reaches the Safety Inbox. Configure Nudges within Fleet > Safety > Event Detection, and apply the same voice coaching settings for audio type and language. Note that for organizations created after October 1, 2024, unassigned safety events bypass the Nudges threshold and show in the Safety Inbox automatically.
How Do You Create an Alert Configuration for Managers?
Alert configurations deliver real-time notifications when events occur. You manage them on the Alerts page.
What Are the Steps to Create an Alert?
- Select Create Alert.
- Choose a trigger for the alert. For example, the A safety event occurred trigger supports alerts for policy violations and distracted driving.
- Configure the conditions that send the alert, such as the event type or the vehicles it covers.
- Choose the notification methods and recipients.
- Optionally set an alert schedule that enables or disables notifications for specific days and times.
- Save the configuration and test it.
Settings vary by alert type, so review the options for each trigger. Samsara supports real-time notifications by email or SMS for harsh events, including rolling stop and following distance events.
Which Delivery Options and Limits Apply?
| Option | Important Detail |
|---|---|
| Email and SMS | Available for real-time safety event alerts |
| Webhook notifications | Available only for some customers and for specific conditions, such as speeding |
| Driver push notifications | Supported only by some alert triggers |
| Large recipient groups | If more than 30 users qualify, Samsara chooses recipients at random |
Because of the 30-recipient limit, avoid sending one alert to a broad group. Instead, create targeted alerts for specific teams or regions.
What Best Practices Reduce Alert Fatigue?
Too many alerts teach people to ignore them. Apply the following practices to keep alerts meaningful:
- Start narrow. Enable a few high-risk behaviors first, and expand gradually.
- Use severity. Alert on severe speeding rather than every minor exceedance.
- Tune after review. Use two weeks of Safety Inbox data to adjust sensitivity.
- Segment recipients. Route alerts to the person who can act, not to everyone.
- Use schedules. Disable notifications during hours when nobody can respond.
- Pair alerts with coaching. Send reviewed events into the coaching workflow.
- Revisit quarterly. Remove alerts that no longer drive action.
What Common Mistakes Should You Avoid?
| Mistake | Consequence | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Setting sensitivity too high | Excess events overwhelm reviewers | Start with defaults and adjust gradually |
| Skipping calibration | Harsh event detection does not start | Confirm calibration before you rely on data |
| Alerting a huge group | Samsara picks recipients at random above 30 users | Create smaller, targeted alerts |
| Forgetting per-vehicle precedence | A vehicle ignores your fleet-wide change | Check individual vehicle settings |
| Enabling alerts without detection | No events trigger notifications | Enable and tune detection first |
| Ignoring in-cab feedback | Drivers repeat behaviors | Enable audio alerts and Nudges |
What Are the Key Takeaways?
Configuring safety alerts in Samsara follows a logical sequence. First, enable and tune detection for the behaviors that carry the most risk. Next, set in-cab alerts and Nudges so that drivers receive immediate feedback. Finally, create alert configurations that notify the right managers through email or SMS.
Move deliberately, and let data guide your tuning. Samsara – GPS Fleet Tracking Software gives you flexible controls at the fleet and vehicle level, and your disciplined approach determines whether alerts improve safety or add noise. If your organization needs help designing an alert strategy, plan a structured rollout with clear thresholds, recipients, and review cycles.
Frequently Asked Questions
You configure them in two places. Detection and in-cab settings live under Fleet settings in the Safety section, while notification rules live on the Alerts page, where you select Create Alert and choose a trigger.
Yes. Select Edit Individual Vehicles in Safety Settings, find vehicles by tags or current settings, and adjust the detection options. Individual vehicle settings take precedence over fleet-wide settings.
If Nudges are enabled for a behavior, the driver receives a notification only after the Nudges threshold is met. This design gives drivers a chance to correct behavior before Samsara promotes the event to a safety event.
