According to reports from RAC Foundation, Saudi drivers often find themselves in serious accidents due to speeding and overtaking. Statistics show more than 460,000 car crashes in Saudi Arabia every year, meaning that every second, at least one driver is involved in an accident on the road. The fatality rate of these accidents makes it 5% of total deaths in the country. Car accidents are the cause of hundreds of deaths and thousands of serious injuries every year, creating a great concern over regulations and safety on the road and desire of improvement of driving practices, monitoring and infrastructure.
The true cause of the accidents may not be discovered due to limited regulatory requirements in Saudi Arabia. Whether it’s speeding, careless driving or sharp turns, in some cases it can be difficult to identify driver behavior that leads to a dangerous and potentially life-threatening situation. Therefore, it is important to consider measures such as adapting the Driving Enhancement Program
What is DEP?
The Driving Enhancement Program is a solution to monitor driver behavior and a tool that can encourage and reward drivers who improve their driving skills by adhering to road regulations.
Developed by Saferoad and adapted through IoT-connected devices, DEP monitors driver behavior and detects over-speeding, high acceleration, harsh braking, fatigued driving, and sharp turns. The Driving Enhancement Program is developed in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which aims to transform the Kingdom with smart cities and achieve a 3.38 score on the Logistics Performance Index by 2025. As of now, Saferoad is the only provider of DEP in the KSA.
The DEP Dashboard allows users to view driver performance and identify issues with their driving style based on comprehensive data. They receive a “RAG” (red, amber, green) report, which is an indicator of driver performance, and a driving rating percentage as an indicator of their knowledge of the road. Using these reports, Saferoad customers can apply training methods that help improve on-road driving skills, and those who improve performance are rewarded accordingly.
DEP’s mobile app allows customers and drivers to monitor performance in real time and uses a buzzer to warn drivers if their road performance drifts to “reckless.” DEP works with any HW device, which means it’s easy to install and use.
Benefits of DEP.
While the primary benefit of Saferoad’s Driving Enhancement Program is that it is a valuable tool that can help save lives by reducing accidents, it is also a solution that can improve driver behavior and performance, increase community awareness, and helps increase the economy.
Road safety is everyone’s responsibility in the community. Therefore, measures such as the use of DEP should be taken to reduce the risk of accidents, social well-being and build confidence in a safe future.