Harnessing telematics to enhance road safety in the West Midlands

Detailed speed data, provided by the Road Safety Foundation in collaboration with The Floow, is empowering authorities across the West Midlands to deliver data-driven interventions aimed at improving road safety.

With funding from The Road Safety Trust, the Road Safety Foundation partnered with The Floow to collate billions of anonymised speed measurements from journeys in the West Midlands.

Traditionally, road safety professionals have relied on spot speed surveys to inform their work. Now, with telematics data sourced from connected vehicles, mobile apps and insurance products, they can access comprehensive speed information across the entire road network.

The Floow’s dataset, primarily drawn from insurance products, was integrated into a portal designed for wide range of road safety stakeholders, including local road authorities, parish councils, police forces, and researchers.

Data-driven enforcement and education – emergency services
West Midlands Police has now begun to incorporate the telematics data into its enforcement strategy. Every quarter, the force analyses crash data from STATS19 to identify hotspots for collisions that result in serious injuries or fatalities. By overlaying this information with telematics speed data and community concerns, officers can refine enforcement efforts on the most high-risk routes.

A representative from West Midlands Police commented: “This new source of data has helped us to identify the locations where speeding is a problem. “We’re committed to promoting road safety and reducing the number of crashes and making our roads a safer place for everyone.”

Meanwhile, West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) is using the portal to support its data-driven approach to road safety education. WMFS data analysts have developed a resource that helps local fire stations identify the most prevalent road safety issues in their areas, shaping education programmes delivered in schools and local communities.

Local authority impact
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council has also been able to use the telematics data to assess and respond to community road safety concerns. The dataset has enhanced their understanding of local collisions, enabling more informed decisions about safety interventions.

The new telematics platform will remain available to stakeholders in the West Midlands and project partners until at least July 2026, and it has already been showcased to other local authorities across the UK.

Dr Suzy Charman, Executive Director of the Road Safety Foundation, said: “Connected vehicle data and telematics data can provide a rich source of intelligence to inform road safety activities.

“Making sure that the data can be accessed by a wide range of stakeholders means they can use the same evidence base to prioritise and treat locations where vehicle speeds are higher than the posted speed limit and also higher than is safe for all road users present.”

Ruth Purdie OBE, Chief Executive of The Road Safety Trust, added: "Telematics holds great potential for improving road safety by providing rich data to help stakeholders deliver targeted interventions.

“We are proud to have funded this project, which has allowed partners in the West Midlands to benefit from that data in their ongoing efforts to reduce serious injuries and fatalities on the region’s roads."

To find out more, visit the project page on The Road Safety Trust website.

15 October 2024