A recently released study shows how monitoring drivers' activities could reduce the number of accidents. Find out more!
Advances in technology have greatly helped us in our daily lives, especially with cell phones. These devices help us in different activities, whether for work or leisure. Through them, we can pay bills, communicate, keep an eye on the weather forecast, traffic, and much more. However, constant use of cell phones can put us in dangerous situations, especially in traffic.
It is very common for many drivers and motorcyclists to use their cell phones while driving their vehicles, which can cause accidents, including fatalities, and put the lives of other people, such as pedestrians, at risk. Because of this, many studies are being carried out to try to reduce the number of accidents caused by cell phone use.
According to a study released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the agency designated for highway safety in the United States, highway cameras and telematics data have the potential to provide more accurate and comprehensive information about drivers' cell phone use than is currently available, which could lead to a better understanding of the risk of distracted driving accidents and how to address them.
Learn more about this study and the institute's conclusion now!
Study
According to the agency’s study, telematics data provides more detailed information because it is collected throughout the driver’s journey. According to the information released, one of the challenges in combating cell phone-related distraction is the lack of good information about where, when and how drivers use their phones. As a result, road cameras and telematics can help fill the gaps, improving understanding of how cell phones affect accident risk.
The first study compared the accuracy of highway camera images with human observations at specific intersection locations according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's annual survey, considered the most up-to-date information on driver cell phone use.
Photographs taken with the cameras were almost as good as those from personal monitors at identifying drivers who were using cell phones while driving. However, the greater amount of data that camera-based observation could provide would likely offer a significant overall benefit in measuring distraction, according to the researchers.
This is because cameras can be installed in more locations, including those that would be dangerous for a human observer, which would allow for better monitoring of cell phone use in traffic. Federal surveys only record information about drivers stopped in traffic.
Both roadside cameras and on-site observation methods were better at recognizing that drivers were engaged in some type of cell phone activity than they were at actually identifying what they were doing.
The body's chairman concluded that despite some growing pains, many jurisdictions have demonstrated that safety cameras can be an effective way to reduce speeding and red signal. Thus, they could save additional lives by helping to reduce cell phone distraction.
Second study
The second study was based on telematics data, which refers to the collection of information from a dedicated mobile app while the user is driving. Some safe driving apps are used by car insurance companies to offer discounts for good driving behavior.
If applied widely, this technology could reveal whether a driver was using a cellphone in the moments before a crash. The report noted that researchers could compare cellphone use with other telematics data, such as acceleration and sudden braking. They could also use data from before and after new laws restricting cellphone use were implemented. use of cell phones to assess the effectiveness of legal changes.
However, a limitation highlighted in the study is that the telematics data comes only from drivers who have opted for safe driving insurance and may be more conscious of avoiding distractions than the general population.
The second study's lead author, Ian Reagan, said in a statement that telematics data offers more detailed information than current data because it is collected throughout the day, from a large number of drivers and over the entire duration of their trips.
