AI study finds drivers used phones more during February blizzard

Mass. — February’s blizzard was one drivers won’t soon forget.

An analysis by Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) found the amount of driving in the Boston area fell by 85% on the Monday of the storm.

It might be expected that the few drivers out and about had their eyes fully on the road, with heavy snow falling and poor visibility. But CMT co-founder Hari Balakrishnan told Boston 25 News that drivers actually took their phones out more.

“We found that on average, through that day on Monday, it went up by 18%,” he said of distracted driving. CMT came to this conclusion by using its new StreetVision technology.

Announced in September, StreetVision is the first AI platform that can identify road risks and help transit officials visualize how to make those same roads safer.

“So, for example, if you put a speed bump on a road or you put on a stop sign, what would the impact of that be? And with modern AI and this data, we can do that,” Balakrishnan said.

“This is a big, big game changer, because previously you would have had to do other types of studies and perhaps even put up a stop sign and run some experiments. And that’s expensive.”

CMT uses StreetVision to look at different types of driving behaviors in different locations over various time periods.

In one list shared with Boston 25, there were analyses of phone tapping during the blizzard in New York, and hard braking and speeding over a span of a month in different cities.

Matt Fiorentino even showed phone tapping results around the Boston 25 studio. “So this is from January 31st through March 2nd. And we can see that distracted driving is happening basically everywhere around the Boston 25 building,” he said.

One thing we wanted to know is how StreetVision knows the person using the phone is actually driving a car. Fiorentino says the platform uses various types of sensor data to identify your movements. “So when you get in your car and you rotate kind of clockwise. And you put your phone in the cup holder, maybe the mount.”

StreetVision also evaluates speed and the number of Bluetooth signals in an area to determine if someone is on a plane or a bus. So how does privacy factor into all of this? Balakrishnan explained.

“Our software kit is in a number of applications, and it’s collecting data and a purely opt-in way. And the analysis that’s being done is completely anonymized. There is no personal information that’s being used in this analysis. And it’s only being done on these roadways where there are hundreds of users or thousands of users.”

The data and the results are streaming in. CMT says MassDOT used StreetVision to measure the impact of a Community Voices for Roadway Safety Project in Holyoke, which ran from August to October.

StreetVision found distracted driving fell by 7%.

CMT has been using StreetVision to analyze crash data since October, focusing around holidays and events like the Super Bowl. And while StreetVision won’t replace other types of traffic studies, its creators say it does open up a world of possibilities. “By combining AI and science with more traditional approaches, which are also very good, we can come up with far better solutions that make our roads safer and more efficient.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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