Discovery says that SA drivers who use their mobile phones while on the road record an average of 52 seconds of distracted driving per trip \u2013 the equivalent of one kilometre driving blind at 60 km\/h.<\/p>\n
According to data from Discovery Insure\u2019s road safety smartphone application, Western Cape drivers used their mobile phones the least, while Limpopo drivers used them the most.<\/p>\n
The financial service company said that South Africa\u2019s best drivers are in the Western Cape and women are \u2013 on average \u2013 better drivers than men.<\/p>\n
Discovery launched its Driver Challenge campaign on 1 June and it is set to run until 31 August 2014.<\/p>\n
During June, the first month of the campaign, Discovery Insure said it collected and analysed 16.8 million kilometres of driving data.<\/p>\n
Discovery said that in excess of 36,000 people have downloaded the smartphone app, which lets them receive real-time feedback on their driving and score themselves against family and friends in the Discovery Insure Driver Challenge.<\/p>\n
After each trip, users are given feedback with information on harsh braking and cornering, distracted driving (such as mobile usage while driving e.g. texting) and speeding, as measured by their smartphone\u2019s built-in accelerometer, gyroscope, and GPS.<\/p>\n
You are assigned a score between 0 and 100 and ranked on a leaderboard which scores them against friends and the broader public.<\/p>\n
Women better drivers on average: Discovery<\/strong><\/p>\n Although 70% of Discovery\u2019s users are male, it found that women tend to be better drivers. However, women also record more harsh braking events and higher levels of mobile phone usage while driving.<\/p>\n Men lose a significant amount of points on speeding and cornering, Discovery said.<\/p>\n Most users (70%) were aged between 18 and 40 and average scores for both men and women improved with age.<\/p>\n Effect of feedback<\/strong><\/p>\n Users with scores of less than 50 improved on average by 20% over the next two days, Discovery found.<\/p>\n High-scoring drivers (70 or higher) improved, on average, by 7% over the same period.<\/p>\n Ten percent of drivers improved their score by at least 10 points after the first day.<\/p>\n Discovery said the research indicates that drivers with the highest driver scores have 15% to 25% fewer accidents, and those with below average scores have 25% to 80% more accidents.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re heartened by the great response thus far, which shows that South Africans are passionate about making a positive difference in their driving behaviour,\u201d said Discovery Insure CEO Anton Ossip.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re particularly pleased that most users were able to improve their driving scores within a short space of time, which shows that if people are willing to improve their driving behaviour if offered the tools on how to improve to make a real difference to road safety,\u201d Ossip said.<\/p>\n Discovery believes that by combining mobile technology and behavioural economics, the app can improve driving standards and road safety in South Africa.<\/p>\n South Africa has a relatively poor road safety record, Discovery said, with over 14,000 fatalities every year. It added that research shows that over 90% of car accident are caused by the driver.<\/p>\n \u201cThe app is the most robust and scientific analysis of driving behaviour in South Africa to date,\u201d Discovery boasted.<\/p>\n Provincial driving rankings<\/strong><\/p>\n The best drivers by province, according to Discovery, are as follows:<\/p>\n Google to test self-driving cars<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Google gives a glimpse into the future of self-driving cars<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n
This article first appeared on MyBroadband<\/a><\/h3>\n
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