Ford Mobility and StreetLight Data have launched a data package which they say offers insights into road safety for departments of transportation and local authorities.
Safety Solutions brings together Ford’s Safety Insights tool - which uses collision data and connected vehicle input on near misses to find potential accident hotspots – and StreetLight’s Software as a Service (SaaS) platform StreetLight InSight, which supplies travel pattern data based on smartphones and navigation devices in connected vehicles, trucks and Internet of Things devices.
The new bundle can overlay crash information with vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian metrics to work out in which locations authorities should act to improve traffic safety.
“This kind of collation and analysis was previously very time-consuming and often lacked any visual representation to help planners and engineers rapidly identify, analyse and recommend countermeasures for particular safety concerns,” says Cal Coplai, product owner of Ford Mobility’s Safety Insights.
In a separate announcement, StreetLight’s data analysis has revealed that Covid-19 has changed traffic patterns in the US, shifting the morning rush hour in particular.
Instead of the typical sharp increase in morning travel, followed by a drop and then an afternoon peak, the vehicle miles travelled (VMT) analysis shows weekday traffic building gradually toward a more sustained afternoon high.
In cities there are still ‘peak PM’ commutes – but the peaks are less pronounced.
Washington, DC, now has a slightly earlier peak for PM travel than during the same period in 2019, while Los Angeles and San Francisco have a “mini rush hour” just after lunch.
PM congestion begins earlier - but ends sooner – and there is more vehicle travel around midday than was the case last year.