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Interactive map shows distracted driving grades near schools

It offers parents an idea of how frequently drivers are using their phones near a school.
The interactive map tells users how much of a problem distracted driving is near schools. (Credit: Zendrive)

A new tool allows parents to find out how safe the roads surrounding their neighborhood schools are due to distracted drivers.

The interactive map is a kind of report card that assigns schools a letter grade and offers browsers an idea of how frequently drivers are using their phones near a school.

Zendrive, a tech company that measures driver safety using phone sensors, developed the map, which pulls together data from April 2017 on aggressive acceleration, hard braking and distracted phone use.

Overall, Washington state earned a “C” grade while Oregon and Idaho got a "B." California, Florida, Texas, and Illinois earned “D” and “F” grades. Wyoming, Montana, Maine, and Iowa were among states earning an “A” grade.

The study found that the more urban the county, the riskier the school roads. One in three drivers show unsafe pick-up and drop-off behavior in school zones.

Zendrive is able to pull data from roughly a million vehicle trips per week in the Seattle area, according to Noah Budnick, the company’s director of public policy and government affairs.

Zendrive’s technology runs in the background of apps like Gas Buddy and Life 360, a family management app. Many commercial fleets also use Zendrive software. The data is anonymized, meaning the company is unable identify specific users, Budnick said.

Learn more about the Zendrive School Safety Snapshot here.

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