Crowdsourcing Traffic Data Could Save Lives
A new University of California study has revealed that crowdsourcing traffic data could be a lifesaver.
The paper titled 'Crowdsourced Traffic Data as an Emerging Tool to Monitor Car Crashes' was published this week in JAMA Surgery.
Every day in the United States there are more than 100 deaths and 2.5 million emergency department visits as a result of motor vehicle crashes. According to the paper, crowdsourced crash data, collected by software applications like Google's Waze occur two minutes and 41 seconds prior to corresponding reports by the California Highway Patrol.
A Game Changer
This time difference could mean the difference between life and death with surgeons being notified earlier and life-saving equipment being made available sooner.
Researchers have said that using crowdsourced traffic data in this way could be a game changer.
“According to our research, it takes emergency medical service (EMS) units an average of seven to 14 minutes to arrive on scene after a 911 call,” said Bharath Chakravarthy, vice chair of research and academic affairs for the UCI School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine and one of the researchers on the study.
“Crowdsourced traffic data might help to cut that time by as much as 60 percent.”
It is hoped that future studies will continue this research by looking at the pros and cons of crowdsourced traffic data as a tool to monitor car crashes and reduce the number of deaths on the road.
For more details and to get access to the JAMA Surgery paper click here.
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