The key to smarter, safer DOT strategies? Ground truth data. 

The U.S. Transportation Secretary recently announced a new initiative: Governors and departments of transportation (DOTs) have 60 days to pinpoint and prioritize urgent road safety improvements.  

If you are as steeped in driving behavior trends as we are, you see firsthand that a nationwide road safety initiative is just what we need. It’s a tight window, but with the right approach, this urgency could be the spark that transforms road safety now and for the long-term.  

Here’s how we can make it count.  

The shift: From reactive to proactive planning 

This call-to-action accelerates an important shift in road safety planning. It’s all about making faster, data-driven decisions for safety and mobility investments.    

Right now, DOTs depend largely on death tolls and lagging crash reports to identify road risk and prioritize how to mitigate it. But it’s not enough, and that becomes crystal clear when we delve into the data.  

Today, there’s more data than ever on how people are driving. These behavioral insights empower DOTs to identify near-misses and proactively identify risk before a crash even happens. These accurate, real-world inputs at scale provide the ground truth layer that can move road safety planning from reactive to proactive.  

With this observed reality, we have the power to prevent tragedy – not just respond to it.  

The ground truth: What driving behavior data reveals  

So, what exactly is this ground truth? Arity’s aggregated and anonymized driving behavior data is sourced from telematics via mobile sensors in smartphones. With trip data captured continuously from over 45M connections, we can provide fresh and robust views into behaviors like:  

• Speeding 

• Hard braking 

• Phone use – i.e., distracted driving 

• Harsh acceleration 

• Crashes 

With these insights, governors and DOTs can:  

Detect emerging hotspots: These insights can reveal areas prone to dangerous driving patterns that may not be obvious from crash reports. In fact, in 2023, the U.S. DOT estimated that 60% of property-damage-only crashes and 32% of injury crashes are not reported to law enforcement.   

Prioritize interventions: In addition to pinpointing issues, these behaviors can help determine how to diagnose them. For instance, a pothole may lead to hard braking while confusing signage may cause people to frantically check their phones for directions. Based on impact and the level of investment required, DOTs can make smarter, data-driven decisions for interventions.  

Evaluate impact: After implementing changes, the same behavioral insights can help assess whether they are working as intended. By comparing before-and-after patterns, DOTs can validate success, refine their approach, and ensure resources are delivering measurable results. 

How it works: Data, platforms, and DOTs  

To get these valuable insights in the hands of DOTs, Arity works with platform partners who further enrich and deliver the insights.  

We begin by collecting data from our 45M+ connections, representing about 19% of U.S. drivers. This data spans all road types, with more than 65% of miles captured on arterial roads that mirrors trips driven by day-to-day, non-fleet drivers. Then we leverage these robust trip details to develop curated aggregated insights that ensure privacy and security through our data principles.  

After our platform partners enrich, visualize, and contextualize the data, DOTs can easily detect emerging hotspots – and then plan, prioritize, and evaluate interventions.  

Looking ahead: Data-driven safety strategies for DOTs 

While this 60-day call-to-action is a beneficial acceleration of data-driven safety strategies, the momentum shouldn’t end with this deadline. Driving behavior data has an important role to play when it comes to enhancing long-term initiatives and saving lives, whether that’s part of the related SAFE ROADS Program or Vision Zero efforts.  

While crash reports can reveal one piece of the road risk puzzle, it’s not enough. We need collaboration and interoperability between data providers, platforms, and public agencies to fully grasp the ground truth.  

“When people are dying, we need to find solutions for today using the best data we can. If there are ways to enhance the timeliness of the data, I think that’s really important.” – Bill Kotowski, the Idaho Transportation Department  

If you’re building tools for DOTs, let’s collaborate to create powerful, data-driven solutions that drive real safety improvements. Contact us to learn more about our driving behavior data and integration options.