'Canada's Safest Driver' contest finds behavior gains expire – but worst drivers stay improved
Canadian safety charity Parachute announced an inaugural telematics competition to find “Canada’s Safety Driver” produced sustained improvement in the riskiest competitors.
But nearly all competitors “returned to their old habits by contest end, notably in the measures of aggressive driving as along with phone distraction,” according to Parachute.
Parachute said 582 Canadians competed within the contest between Oct. 1-Nov. 26, 2021, by permitting the “Canada’s Safest Driver” app from Cambridge Mobile Telematics to watch their driving. The contest tracked their acceleration, braking, cornering, phone usage and speed, while using first 72 hours from the 56-day contest to calculate baseline behavior.
“During the first few days, risk factors were reduced by 13 percent, but during the day 28 this dropped to 3 percent. By day 56, participants returned to pre-contest risk levels,” Parachute wrote inside a news release.
“… Speeding and harsh acceleration were the largest risks during the contest with an 11-per-cent and six-per-cent increase respectively. Phone distractions saw a 30-per-cent decrease during the beginning of the contest but ended with a five-per-cent increase during the day 56.”
Julian Piccioli of Ottawa, Canada, won $10,000 for being “Canada’s Safest Driver.” He also won a $500 Early Bird Prize for the best score in the first couple of weeks and a “smooth braking” prize for his performance between Nov. 12-26, 2021.
“In to score full of all the categories measured, the main theme for me was being a proactive driver instead of reactive one,” Piccioli said inside a statement. “By not distracted, by not speeding, by concentrating on handling the vehicle, it allowed me to focus my attention on the driving task itself a lot more than I had, before. I recognized where I had been taking risks, before, which i didn't need to.”
Even though the population overall ended the contest driving just as they did at the start, the general results reported Tuesday still show the opportunity of telematics-based insurance and driver coaching to curtail crash volume.
Most importantly, the really bad drivers stayed better.
“A positive exception was for that highest-risk drivers who scored in the bottom 25 per cent who showed significant driving behaviour improvements for the duration of the competition with an overall 30 per cent decrease in risky driving behaviour,” Parachute wrote.
And even if the gains for the typical driver didn’t last, your competition still produced improvement for any little while. The drivers still spent 28 days driving much better than they would. Theoretically, the odds of these 582 motorists producing wrecks for Canadian shops to fix dropped in that time. A down month isn’t a state for any small business operator, even if the rest of the year sees normal volume.
The persistent reinforcement and “skin in the game” of the usage-based insurance plan constantly adjusting rates — for example Allstate’s Milewise, which updates weekly according to driver skill — might produce better results than this elective contest. After all, your actions within the former will certainly lower or raise your expenses, as the latter carries no guarantee you’ll function as the winner.
“From the competition results, we see that whenever drivers pay attention, they could be better, safer drivers,” Parachute CEO Pamela Fuselli said in a statement. “They decelerate, focus their attention on the road as well as on their ability to drive. You want to motivate people to continue these improved behaviours, even when they aren't competing for prize money.”
“It is excellent to determine drivers rewarded for driving safely and for doing operator to keep themselves and others safe on our roads,” Valérie Lavoie, chief operating officer of contest sponsor Desjardines Insurance, said inside a statement. “But we must be vigilant with regards to road safety. In order to adopt and sustain safe driving habits, we should still educate, raise awareness and encourage drivers to place down their phones, slow down and stay centered on our roads.”