Convergence

Blog: SmartDrive Announces New Objective Evidence of the Risks and Cost of Distracted Driving in Latest SmartDrive SmartIQ Snapshot for Trucking

In today’s Snapshot, we share new new insights on distracted driving in the trucking industry.  The SmartDrive Snapshot, which aggregates and anonymizes data from the SmartDrive advanced video-based analytics platform, helps fleets understand operational threats and illuminates the inherent risks associated with distracted driving. The data analysis clearly demonstrates that the most distracted drivers are less safe overall, commit significantly more fundamental driving errors and drive faster than the speed limit compared to all other drivers.

The SmartDrive Distracted Driving Snapshot for trucking illuminates key observations that distinguish distracted drivers—including those using mobile devices—during the 12-month analysis period. With validation through video analysis, these findings prove that distraction has a correlation to near collisions, collisions and increased fuel usage, and the most distracted drivers are significantly more dangerous than other drivers.

The full Distracted Driving Snapshot is available online, click here for the U.S. Snapshot.

Distracted Driving chart Image

Significant conclusions include:

  • Collision drivers have higher distraction rates than non-collision drivers in all categories of distractions.
  • The most distracted drivers are 36 percent more likely to be involved in a near collision than all other drivers. This number jumps dramatically—to 88 percent—for drivers most distracted by a mobile device.
  • The most distracted drivers are 84 percent more likely than other drivers to roll through a stop sign or red light, and those most distracted by a mobile device are 2.5x more likely to not stop – increasing the risk and severity of collisions.
  • Overall, the most distracted drivers are 87 percent more likely to drive 10 mph or more over the speed limit, but if they are distracted by a mobile device, they are nearly 3x more likely than all other drivers to drive 10 mph or more over the speed limit.
  • The most distracted drivers drift out of their lane almost 2x more frequently than all other drivers. This number jumps to 2.3x more than all other drivers for those most distracted by a mobile device.
  • Drivers who are most often distracted are more likely to not wear their seatbelt at a rate of 4.1x higher than other drivers.
  • The most distracted drivers waste more fuel, resulting in 6 percent lower MPG than other drivers; this number increases to more than 8 percent when most distracted by a mobile device.

The complete Distracted Driving Snapshot is available online, and it includes the “Top 9 Tips to Eliminate Distracted Driving.” This guide is designed to help ensure fleets not only understand how distracted driving is affecting performance, but also are equipped to do something about it.

To download the study click on one of the links below.

U.S. Snapshot for Distracted Driving
UK Snapshot for Distracted Driving (coming soon)

 

  • Posted by Melissa.Senoff@smartdrive.net
  • On 13 April 2017
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