App to help people become better drivers

For most people, using a smartphone while driving is the last thing anyone would want to encourage in the interest of safe driving. However, major US insurance company State Farm, is launching a new free mobile application, Driver Feedback, which turns a person's cell phone into a pocket-sized driving coach.
February 3, 2012 Read time: 2 mins

For most people, using a smartphone while driving is the last thing anyone would want to encourage in the interest of safe driving. However, major US insurance company 2192 State Farm, is launching a new free mobile application, Driver Feedback, which turns a person's cell phone into a pocket-sized driving coach. The application, available for iPhone and iPod touch, provides users individual feedback about their driving habits and then offers tips on how people can drive more safely.

Research shows that certain driving habits can increase the risk of a car crash. The Driver Feedback app uses the device's accelerometer to measure three essential driving behaviours: acceleration, braking, and cornering. When activated, at the end of each trip, the driver is provided a score and a log of potentially dangerous driving activities. If the app detects especially risky driving behaviours it provides the driver tips for improvement.

State Farm says that the Driver Feedback app is particularly useful for parents teaching teens how to drive. It offers teen drivers and their parents access to useful non-biased driving feedback, to help families have constructive conversations about safe driving. In addition, the app can be a useful and objective tool to help assess a teen's readiness for independent driving.

However, experienced drivers may benefit from this app, too. Research from the National Highway Traffic Administration has shown that hard acceleration, deceleration and cornering are associated with higher crash risk. The Driver Feedback app can help identify problem areas, providing drivers of any age with useful tips to help reduce the risk of crashes.

The Driver Feedback app is currently available for iPhone and iPod touch and is free for anyone to download. Information on the app remains with the user and is not collected or used by State Farm.

Networking & Communication Systems

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Infrastructure and the autonomous vehicle
    December 12, 2014
    Harold Worrall ponders the effect of autonomous vehicles on transportation infrastructure. For the last century the transportation industry has been focused on the supply of infrastructure to support the ever growing fleet of vehicles and the greater number of miles covered by each vehicle. Our focus has been planning, funding, designing, building and maintaining roadways. Politicians, engineers, planners, financial managers … all of us have had this focus. We have experienced demand growth since the first
    Read More
  • Enforcement a key part of the road safety solution
    January 31, 2012
    The Partnership for Advancing Road Safety is a new organisation set up in the US to push the national debate on speed and intersection safety, something which hitherto has been absent. Here, executive director David Kelly explains the organisation's work. With moves to address drink/drug driving and the wearing of seatbelts starting to prove successful in the US, the use of inappropriate speed and poor driving at intersections have become responsible for a proportionately greater number of the deaths and in
    Read More
  • Scaling up road safety analysis with Aimsun cloud simulation
    May 10, 2023
    Synthetic generation, execution, and analysis of thousands of road safety scenarios is exponentially more efficient and wider ranging than any methodology based on field data. Marcel Sala & Jordi Casas of Aimsun examine the benefits of cloud simulation for safety testing
    Read More
  • System predicts train delays and informs response
    February 25, 2016
    David Crawford looks into the near-term future for Stockholm’s rail commuters. Swedish rail operator Stockholmståg, which runs commuter services in and around the country’s capital, is claiming a world first with the introduction of its automated Pendelprognosen (commuter prognosis) service. Developed to enable the prediction of delays as much as two hours before they are likely to occur, this offers the operator the scope for much earlier remedial action than previously - for example by filling in the expe
    Read More

Highlighted Content