An intelligent fleet management system and a related method of operation provide a higher level of legal compliance and public road safety by requiring a commercial driver an electronic form of a driver's identification in a commercial vehicle. In one embodiment of the invention, the electronic form of the driver's identification is validated and additionally authenticated by a driver-specific PIN entry to a vehicle fleet management system interface device installed in a commercial vehicle. The vehicle fleet management system interface device can also communicate with a monitoring station via a data network for dynamically-generated alerts and periodic reports associated with vehicle speeds, driving pattern analysis utilizing various sensors, unexpected stops, and continuous driving which exceed a mandatory rest requirement. The monitoring station is able to disable the commercial vehicle remotely or take other actions based on an alert generated from the vehicle fleet management system interface device.