New life-saving car technology and the 10 least safe roads in the US

Many moons ago, when Gen-Xers and Boomers turned 16 years old, a car accident was reported by a rubbernecker, passerby, or pedestrian over a landline or pay phone. This inefficiency lasted for dozens of minutes, during which accident victims fought in vain for their lives as they waited for uniformed first responders to arrive. Even now, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that the biggest obstacle to improving outcomes for the 96 people who die on America’s highways every day is obtaining “…critical information about what happens before, during, and after a accident has occurred, (which) provides a complete picture.” image that informs prevention (and rescue) efforts.”

Yesterday, Motive, in partnership with RapidSOS, launched a distinctive AI-based service titled ‘First Responder’, which accelerates emergency response in the aftermath of a collision. The commercial fleet’s dashcam detects an accident or near miss and then not only communicates standard telematics information (e.g. vehicle location, make, model, airbag deployment, rollover detection) to the 400-person response team, but also footage is captured within 20 seconds, which is then confirmed via human-in-the-loop verification. This not only captures information valuable to first responders (e.g., driver condition), but also avoids false positives for the 911 center, AI algorithm, and accident statistics. The new capability closes a critical safety gap by helping 911 identify emergencies more quickly and provides more information to first responders.

“Zero harm is our North Star,” said Shoaib Makani, co-founder and CEO of Motive. “First Responder will transform the way we support drivers in a collision and save lives. We can respond to approximately 99% of serious collisions within seconds, and by reducing the time it takes for 911 to verify these incidents and send help, we are taking a critical step to keep everyone on the road safer.

Bennett, a logistics and transportation service provider, has used the system for its fleet of 4,500 vehicles and has reduced accident frequency by 30% year over year. Jared Whitson, director of safety at Bennet, said: “I cannot overemphasize the importance of technology that initiates a rapid response to emergencies. Preserving life and preventing further harm depends on seconds, not minutes.”

With a user base of more than 1.3 million drivers, it has collected data on more than 45 million collision events, provided insight into the safety of U.S. roadways and begun educating stakeholders about collision hotspots. “We can use this data set to better understand behavioral trends,” said Hamish Woodrow, Motive’s Head of Strategic Analytics. “Not only can we detect problematic roads or intersections, we also attach great importance to what happened before the collision in order to naturally try to prevent it.”

Motive’s data revealed the ten least safe roads or intersections in the US based on the number of collisions:

1. Highway 41 and Highway 997, Tamiami, FL (76.2 collisions per 1k vehicles)

2. Highway 41 and Highway 997, Kendall West, FL (69.31 collisions per 1k vehicles)

3. Highway 285 and Highway 302 (in Permian Basin), Pecos, TX (32.17 collisions per 1k vehicles)

4. Highway 285 (“Death Highway”), Carlsbad, NM (31.49 collisions per 1k vehicles)

5. Highway 880 and Highway 101, San Jose, CA (29.64 collisions per 1k vehicles)

6. Highway 181 and Highway 123, Floresville, Texas (29.64 collisions per 1k vehicles)

7. Highway 84 (“Deadman’s Pass”) near Highways 395 and Highway 11, Pendleton, OR (26.82 collisions per 1k vehicles)

8. Highway 349, Midland, Texas (26.45 collisions per 1k vehicles)

9. Highway 110Highway 405, Long Beach, CA (24.49 collisions per 1k vehicles)

10. Highway 180 and Highway 168Fresno, CA (20.11 collisions per 1k vehicles)

The data also revealed conditions and timing that create more dangerous outcomes for commercial vehicles, especially around the holidays. For example, Motive observed a 10% increase in speeding tickets in the week leading up to Christmas, with a 32% increase in crash risk on Christmas Day compared to the rest of December. This gave Christmas the dubious honor of having the highest crash rate (54.1) among the major holidays last year, with New Year’s Day (43.9) and Thanksgiving (38.9) rounding out the top three.