South Australia’s drivers have been recognised as the safest in the nation, according to new data. Car insurance experts at ROLLiN’ analysed over 18 million kilometres of driving information gathered from their Safe ‘n Save app.
The app uses smartphone sensors to monitor driving habits such as acceleration, braking, cornering, and phone usage. This data helps to determine an overall safe driving score for each user.
The study revealed that South Australia achieved an impressive average safety score of 90.3 out of 100. Drivers in the state demonstrated strong performance in several key areas, including braking, low mobile phone use, and maintaining slower driving speeds, which collectively contributed to South Australia’s top ranking.
Queensland followed closely behind with a safety score of 89.6, where drivers excelled in braking and smooth acceleration, but narrowly missed the top spot due to less proficient cornering and instances of phone use while driving. Western Australia secured third place with an average score of 88.9.
Looking at cities, Geelong emerged as the safest city for drivers with residents demonstrating excellent smooth acceleration and well-executed turns. Adelaide ranked second, with drivers showing good performance across all categories, particularly in braking and avoiding phone use.
Interestingly, the Australian Capital Territory recorded the highest average driving speeds at 46.3 kilometres per hour, despite having the lowest top recorded speed limit in the country. South Australian drivers, on the other hand, averaged the slowest speeds at 37.5 kilometres per hour.
Adelaide also claimed the title for the city with the slowest drivers, averaging 35.7 kilometres per hour. The study suggests that stricter penalties for speeding in South Australia may contribute to these lower average speeds.
Concerning mobile phone use, a significant 91% of Safe ‘n Save customers were detected using their phones while driving. South Australian drivers were the least likely to engage in this dangerous behaviour, with an average of only one instance every nine trips. Cairns, however, was identified as the city with the highest rate of phone use while driving.
Brendan Griffiths, Executive Manager at ROLLiN’, noted that while many Australians achieve high safe driving scores, there is still room for improvement, particularly regarding phone use and harsh braking.
He stated, “Our analysis of over 18 million kilometres of driving data from our Safe ‘n Save app reveals that, while many Australians earn an A on their safe driving score, there’s still room for improvement. Habits like phone use and harsh breaking remain common on Australian roads, putting drivers, passengers and pedestrians at risk.”
The Safe ‘n Save app calculates a Policy Score based on driving behaviours and rewards safe drivers with insurance discounts.
Mr Griffiths added, “By rewarding safe driving behaviour, we’re on a mission to make Aussie roads safer, one trip at a time.”
ROLLiN’ is an Australian car insurance provider that aims to offer fairer and more rewarding insurance. Through their Safe ‘n Save program, they utilise technology to understand driving behaviour and offer discounts to those who demonstrate safe habits on the road.
This approach not only benefits careful drivers but also contributes to a broader goal of improving road safety across the country. South Australia continues to trailblaze in road safety, statistics we hope to maintain moving forward.
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