Last month, BBC Click’s Omar Mehtab set out on his journey to discover how data can help make roads safer. Taking to streets, Omar goes behind the wheel to explore how a sensor in his car links up with our sensors on lamposts to track dangerous traffic hotspots, with the aim of collecting data for councils to make roads safer.

During his outing, his speed, acceleration, rate and harshness of braking and steering are all measured to see how they react along a route. Through the collaboration with our sensors and subsequent transferral of data to visual heatmaps, the system also predicts near misses with other vehicles or people.

After his trip, Omar makes it over to our headquarters, where he gets to see the technology and data in action. He’s joined by our COO Peter Mildon, who sits down to talk through how the technology enables people to spend time analysing accident hotspots and the location of near miss events from condensed clips (rather than having to go out to observe this data in person over many hours). This is followed by points about the challenges for councils in making use of the data and the data gathering exercise itself. 

As he readies himself to finish by driving off, Omar’s closing remarks ring true to our journey:

“Getting more connected seems like a good way of driving forward.” 

You can watch the Viva clip from the episode on the BBC News Website.

The full episode is available on the BBC Click website.

About Ford and Viva RoadSafe project

Ford cars UK has worked alongside Viva to develop a new “RoadSafe” concept to help alert drivers to higher risk locations and share insights with local authorities so these areas can be reviewed. The new digital tool, designed to improve road safety by leveraging data and complex algorithms, is now being tested in Oxfordshire and London. It’s the culmination of four years of research by Ford, including most recently a 20-month government-funded project conducted together with Oxfordshire County Council, Loughborough University and Viva, with support from Transport for London and backing from Innovate UK.

Get in touch with the Viva team to find out more about our traffic management and data solution and ask for a free demo.

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