The Georgia Department of Transportation (DOT) has launched Reach Home Safely, a safe driving app to improve road safety and prevent crashes.
The DOT partnered with app developer Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) for the project. The Reach Home Safely app incentivizes safe driving by giving drivers the opportunity to participate in a contest to compete for the title of safest driver. For the contest, Georgia DOT has partnered with the Atlanta Braves to help promote the app, as well as provide the prizes.
“Ensuring that every Georgian reaches their destination safely is our top priority,” said Russell McMurry, Georgia DOT commissioner. “By partnering with CMT on the Reach Home Safely app and through the support of the Atlanta Braves, we’re leveraging innovative technology and the power of community to tackle risky driving head-on. The Reach Home Safely program is more than just a contest – it’s a movement towards safer roads across Georgia.”
To participate in the contest, Georgia residents just need to download the free Reach Home Safely mobile app, available on the App Store and Google Play Store. After activating the technology, Georgia DOT said that participants just have to drive safely, explaining that the app automatically detects when they’re driving. The app includes a driving score, feedback on driving behaviors, and contest rankings. All driving data for the contest is anonymized and processed only by CMT. The contests include weekly, monthly, and grand prize winners throughout the remainder of the Braves’ regular season, and include prizes like merchandise, access, and experiences.
The app is backed by CMT’s AI-driven platform, DriveWell Fusion. According to the company, the DriveWell Fusion platform gathers sensor data from millions of IoT devices – including smartphones, proprietary tags, connected vehicles, dashcams, and third-party devices – and fuses them with contextual data to create a unified view of vehicle and driver behavior.
The Georgia DOT said that their decision to go with a contest-based program was driven by data. Noting that Safest Driver programs, like Reach Home Safely, are proven to make roads safer. In other Safest Driver contests, CMT has seen a 48 percent reduction in distracted driving, a 38 percent decrease in excessive speeding, and a 57 percent drop in hard braking. CMT estimates that Georgia could prevent 4,100 crashes, 19 fatalities, and $160 million in economic damages annually by reducing distracted driving by 10 percent.
“By combining Georgia DOT’s vision for safer roads and CMT’s expertise in telematics, the Reach Home Safely app can save lives in an effort to make Georgia’s roads safer,” said Ryan McMahon, SVP of strategy for CMT. “The Reach Home Safely app is another example of CMT’s commitment to using technology for the public good.”
