New data report: How we can solve the driving safety crisis

When a car crash occurs, every second matters. Whether emergency services or the comfort and support of loved ones are needed, Crash Detection by Arity ensures that those involved get help when they need it most. This is just one example that showcases the power of data-driven solutions when it comes to saving lives on our roads.  

With more than 40,000 lives lost to traffic crashes every single year, we all need to step up, collaborate, and unlock greater traffic safety for everyone. To spark urgency and innovation towards this critical mission, we recently released a new data report, “Data in action: Solving the driving safety crisis.”  

Here are three key takeaways.  

#1 Dangerous driving behaviors are misunderstood  

To help prep for this report, we surveyed 1,000 licensed U.S. drivers earlier this year to understand the public’s opinions around driving safety. And interestingly, we found that perceptions of dangerous driving behaviors don’t always line up with the actual risk.  

For instance, while 68% said distracted driving is “extremely unsafe,” less than half of respondents said speeding, hard braking, or fast acceleration are. However, with the largest driving behavior dataset tied to auto insurance claims, Arity has a unique view into driver risk, and we know that all of these behaviors impact their safety on the road.    

#2 Reducing road risk starts with data 

To put it simply, you can’t solve a problem before you first understand the problem, and there’s clearly a collective lack of understanding when it comes to road risk. Data around driving patterns and behaviors holds crucial insights that can help us solve the driving safety crisis. 

With a collaborative data ecosystem, we can pinpoint what’s causing risk on our roads along with where and why it’s happening. In our report, we uncover trends related to the rise in dangerous driving since COVID-19, including:  

• Traffic volumes have mostly returned to pre-pandemic levels 

• While overall traffic volume has recovered, people are not driving at the same times of day, in the same locations, or in the same context as before

• Speeding remains elevated compared to pre-pandemic 

• Distracted driving increased nearly 32% since pre-pandemic 

In addition to the countrywide view, we looked at how these trends vary state-by-state and county-by-county in the report. However, with a connection to more than 40M U.S. drivers, we can dive even deeper to the road-by-road and intersection-by-intersection levels.  

Having insight into both big-picture and granular trends are crucial to gaining a true understanding of road risk, which is something we must have before we create solutions to transform transportation for the better.  

#3 Everyone has a role to play in creating safer roads 

While data helps us uncover and understand road safety challenges, it’s up to us to work together and solve them.  

At Arity, we believe everyone has a role to play in creating safer roads – from drivers, to automakers, to businesses, to government agencies, and beyond. As a part of fulfilling our role, we build data-driven solutions that empower the entire transportation ecosystem to make meaningful change on our roads.   

Are you interested in how you can play a larger role in enabling greater traffic safety? Download our report to get started.