Black spots and telematics: the link between driver behaviour data, road safety, and the black spot program

The emergence of vehicle telematics data (location, speed, acceleration etc) for insurance purposes has opened the possibility of using this data to improve road safety. Treatments to Black Spot intersections were used to analyse correlation between telematics data, and the effect of changes to road infrastructure on driver behaviour. Telematics measurements, including harsh braking, were used to compare driver behaviour before and after road safety treatments at three known, high-risk intersections, with a view to identifying the traits of the driver behaviour that change with the inferred improvement of safety that comes with treatments applied at the intersection. Data analysis at the three sites showed negligible change in behaviour, or even a slight increase in harsh braking, though this was not statistically significant. Consequently, no identifiable characteristics of safe or risky driving behaviour could be determined by comparing behaviour before and after a treatment.