How can we better innovate to identify and address dangerous driving behaviors—in upstream and holistic ways—before they result in crashes?
That’s the question we explored in our recent webinar, Insights & Actions to Improve Driving Behaviors & Reduce Risks. Specifically, how telematics and mobile-based technology can be leveraged to better understand risky driving behaviors that can then be targeted with data-informed interventions. We heard from Joe Bartlett of Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) and Jon Nelson from the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), who shared real-world insights on how telematics data can be used in an effective Safe System approach – and how these tools can be part of a Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant proposal.
(see 1-hour recording and slidedecks from May 21, 2025)
A Springboard for Innovation: Better Data and Understanding of Unsafe Driving Behaviors
CMT’s DriveWell telematics platform combines mobile app data and in-vehicle sensor inputs to analyze risky driving behaviors. The platform tracks a range of high-risk driving behaviors, including: hard braking, excessive speeding, phone distraction, aggressive maneuvers and harsh cornering. This data, collected from an opt-in network including more than 12 million monthly drivers in the US, offers a detailed, highly localized view of driving risks across a community’s streets.
The technology is also used across a range of sectors. Rideshare companies use it to monitor on-trip safety and improve driver training and the top 23 of the top 25 U.S. auto insurers, integrate the platform into usage-based insurance programs that offer discounts to drivers demonstrating safe driving behavior via the app. Meanwhile, city and state agencies are leveraging the platform to identify hotspots of risky behavior where they can implement interventions like traffic calming, street redesigns, and speed safety cameras.
For instance, Seattle observed a 35% decrease in distracted driving, Boston observed a 57% decrease in hard braking and Los Angeles observed a 45% decrease in speeding among drivers utilizing the app.
Results from Safest Driver Program use in three different cities
Communities have also used telematics data through “Safest Driver” contests that combine real-time driving feedback with rewards for improvements in behavior and have seen success (more on this later).
Another of CMT’s telematics-based tools, StreetVision, allows communities to visualize and analyze driving behavior down to the street segment level. Instead of relying solely on crash data, which can be incomplete, the StreetVision tool can be used to inform proactive decisions based on current behavioral trends showing up on a roadway network. For instance, in Texas, StreetVision was used to identify areas with high levels of phone distraction, helping shape a targeted education campaign where it was most needed. And along California’s Pacific Coast Highway, the platform helped evaluate the impact of new speed cameras by tracking hard braking before and after their installation.
Telematics in Action: Missouri's Safest Driver Competition
Perhaps one of the most compelling examples of how telematics can be used to influence behavior and improve safety comes from Missouri. Building on their initial Buckle Up Phone Down campaign, Missouri DOT launched a series of “Safest Driver” competitions in 2024 —first with local employers, then with high schools—that used CMT’s DriveWell app to track and score participants based on their driving behaviors. Participants received scores based on behaviors like phone use, speeding, and harsh braking and were awarded prizes for demonstrating safe driving behaviors. Prizes ranged from gift cards for those who showed improvements from week to week to major awards of $5,000 for the safest individual driver and $10,000 for the overall safest business.
The results were compelling. Participants from local businesses reduced harsh braking by 32%, distraction by 25%, and speeding time by 17%. Meanwhile, high school participants observed a 17% decrease in distraction and an 18% decrease in speeding time. Additionally, over 43% of participating students improved their driving in at least one major risk category by 10% or more. The contests demonstrated that personalized feedback and meaningful incentives — including gift cards, cash prizes, or insurance discounts — are effective, innovative and underutilized tools to engage drivers and encourage safer driving behaviors.
Observed impacts of the Safest Driver competitions for the local businesses (left) and for high school participants (right)
But most crucially, this kind of behavioral data can be used to fill critical gaps in what traditional crash reports often miss. For example, Jon Nelson from Missouri DOT noted that while crash data shows that about 10% of fatal crashes in Missouri involve distraction, telematics data suggests that the prevalence is significantly higher. Having access to this kind of information can help agencies prioritize interventions more effectively and tell a more complete story about the risks on their roadways.
Leveraging SS4A Funding
We can all agree that driver behavior plays a crucial role in roadway safety, but too often, efforts to influence that behavior over-rely on billboard or PR campaigns that lack evidence of sizable and measurable impact. With this technology, communities can go further by identifying the root behaviors contributing to serious crashes and use real-time, location-specific data to shape more effective solutions.
This is where the Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program offers a valuable opportunity. Whether your community is developing an Action Plan or looking to build off of an existing one, you can use SS4A funding to integrate and test telematics tools like those offered by CMT. For Supplemental Planning, these tools can help identify high-risk corridors, especially useful if you’re looking to supplement or enhance traditional crash data, to better target safety interventions. For Demonstration Activities, platforms like StreetVision provide a way to pilot and monitor the impact of measures such as speed limit changes, daylighting, or speed safety cameras.
Telematics can be a powerful addition to your Safe System toolbox, helping you make measurable progress toward safer mobility — even as we recognize that the journey to Zero takes not only time but innovation. As Jon Nelson reminded us during the webinar, “This is a long game, and while we may not reach Zero overnight, every step we take is saving real lives — in our schools, our communities, and our families.” In doing so, we are not only responding to today’s challenges, but reimagining what safe mobility looks like.
Read more about strategies to prevent unsafe speeds and check out more ideas to leverage SS4A funding for Vision Zero progress.
Thank you to CMT for their support of Vision Zero Network. If you’re interested in learning more about sponsorship opportunities, contact leah (at) visionzeronetwork.org, and see ways to individually contribute to our work here.
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