Lytx released new insights into public-sector driving trends from its database of 328,000 risky driving events captured from public-sector fleets in 2019. Lytx’s findings include the five risky behaviors seen most often among public-sector drivers, most improved driving behaviors, and insights on how public-sector driving habits compare to those of other industries.

The most prevalent risky behaviors in 2019 were:

• Driver unbelted

• Cell phone/device observed

• Red light (failure to stop at a red light)

• Passenger unbelted

• Failure to stop (failure to stop at a stop sign or vehicle speed remains above 5 mph)

The most improved behaviors from 2018 to 2019 were:

• Following distance (distance to the vehicle directly ahead is approximately 1.5 seconds and increasing for at least 4 consecutive seconds) – improved 57%

• Late response (when a driver is not distracted, yet responds late and abruptly to a readily visible risky situation ahead) – improved 18%

• Posted speed violation – improved 10%

This data was captured from fleets of all sizes and types within the public sector, including public works, public schools, transit, waste, fire, police, and EMS fleets, as well as city/municipal vehicles. It is part of an ongoing series from Lytx highlighting key behavior trends seen across the nine industries that utilize its video telematics technology. For comparisons across industries, Lytx calculated behavior averages from its global database, which contains driving data from trucking, distribution, concrete, construction, services, transit, utilities, and waste industries.

Data from all industries are available on the Lytx website.

Behaviors may appear on both the "most prevalent" and "most improved" lists. This demonstrates that even with significant improvement, fleets and drivers must stay vigilant and maintain awareness to keep those behaviors trending downwards.

How Public-Sector Fleets Stack Up Against Other Industries

Lytx compared the prevalence of behaviors seen in public-sector fleets against behavior averages of fleets across all of its other protected industries. Comparatively, public-sector fleets stood out in the following areas:

• Following distance occurred 53% less often

• Red light occurred 104% more often

• Failure to stop occurred 35% more often

High instances of “red light” and “failed to stop” behaviors are likely due to the high-level of emergency situations certain fleets in this sector, such as police, fire, and EMS, often find themselves in. Common risky driving behaviors observed within a fleet, as well as benchmarking data from fleets both inside and outside of a specific industry, are helpful metrics for understanding industry-specific challenges, guiding safety efforts and then measuring success.

Public-Sector Collision Insight

Lytx also found that 55% of medium-impact collisions among public-sector fleets involved a side impact. Of those, 40% involved traffic violations, such as “failure to stop,” potentially indicative of emergency-response situations.