Just How Safe are Commercial Drivers? New Survey Reveals Major Misperceptions

Survey Results Show Only Three Percent of Severe Crashes in the U.S. Involve Commercial Vehicles

ATLANTA – Oct. 10, 2019 – A new survey commissioned by Verizon Connect and Wakefield Research has identified misperceptions everyday drivers have about the level of danger posed by commercial drivers including the finding that 83% of those surveyed believe they pose less risk on the road than commercial drivers. In actuality, only 3% of all severe crashes in the U.S. involve commercial vehicles.

To help combat this misperception, Verizon Connect offers fleet-based businesses its Verizon Connect Integrated Video product to help fleet managers improve safety and mitigate risk within their fleet of vehicles.

Verizon Connect Integrated Video leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to help businesses improve driver behavior and protect the bottom-line. Verizon Connect Integrated Video is a smart dash-cam solution that provides real data insights to help commercial drivers stay safe on the road and protect them against false claims in the event of any incident.

Perception of unsafe commercial drivers persists

• Eighty-one percent of respondents said they have witnessed a commercial vehicle driving dangerously.
• Fifty-four percent of those respondents also say they have witnessed an accident involving a commercial vehicle.

Other unsafe driving behaviors from commercial vehicles witnessed by survey respondents include:

• Speeding - 69%
• Abrupt lane changes - 55%
• Driving erratically - 46%
• Taking turns too quickly - 37%

“Delivering our brand’s promise means creating innovative solutions, powered by the latest technology that help our customers move their business forward,” said Kevin Aries, head of global product success at Verizon Connect. “We’re delivering next-level solutions, powered by advanced AI and machine learning capabilities to help our customers be safe, productive and efficient all over the world.”

Verizon Connect Integrated Video uses AI to intelligently capture and automatically classify video according to how severe an event is, showing only what is relevant and important to business owners and operations managers. Additional features include Speed Overlay, which enables operations managers to easily view the speed of the vehicle directly within the video clip to determine if speed is the factor that caused the event, and Video on Demand, which allows operations managers to request 40 second increments of available footage.

For more information on how Verizon Connect Integrated Video can help improve safety and mitigate risk, visit verizonconnect.com.

Methodology

The Verizon Connect survey of commercial vehicle road safety was conducted by Wakefield Research among 1,000 nationally representative U.S. adults ages 18+, between June 10 and June 17, 2019, using an email invitation and an online survey. Quotas have been set to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the U.S. adult population 18 and older. The analysis also includes official National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration data.

About Verizon Connect
Verizon Connect is guiding a connected world on the go by automating, improving and revolutionizing the way people, vehicles and things move through the world. Our full suite of industry-defining solutions and services puts innovation, automation and connected data to work for customers and helps them be safer, more efficient and more productive. With more than 3,500 dedicated employees in 15 countries, we deliver leading mobile technology platforms and solutions. For more on Verizon Connect, visit verizonconnect.com.