🚗💥 If road accidents were a virus, we would call this a global pandemic.
Road safety is a global health and societal challenge. Each year, around 1.19 million people die in road accidents worldwide, and this number has remained stubbornly high for more than a decade, despite improvements in vehicle safety, infrastructure, and public awareness. Fatalities hovered around 1.25 million in 2010 and still sit at about 1.19 million today, showing that current efforts are not enough. Despite safer cars and better roads, the majority of accidents are still linked to human behavior.
Over the past 15 years, this consistency has added up to a devastating reality: more than 18 million lives have been lost on the world’s roads. That toll is comparable to the world’s deadliest infectious diseases, on par with tuberculosis and nearly double malaria, yet road safety rarely receives the same global attention.
Millions more suffer injuries annually, with long-term consequences for families, communities, and economies.
The scale matches a pandemic. The response does not.
Why road safety is a global crisis
Road safety affects everyone. Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5 to 29. Beyond the human impact, collisions strain healthcare systems, raise insurance costs, and reduce productivity.
Vehicle innovations can make cars safer, but they cannot remove the pressures and habits that shape how people actually drive. The impact of these pressures is especially visible in food and grocery delivery, where drivers often face tight deadlines and long hours. This environment increases risky choices like speeding or phone use on the road, leading to higher crash rates.
With accidents rising in these sectors, governments are placing greater pressure on platforms, insurers, and fleets to implement driver safety programs and stronger accountability measures.
Protecting drivers is not only a safety imperative but also critical for the sustainability of modern urban economies. Treating road safety as a core public health priority unlocks better outcomes for people and for cities.
What a pandemic-level response to road safety looks like
If the world approached road safety with the urgency of a health emergency, we would see:
- Real‑time risk visibility across trips, roads, and contexts
- Predictive modeling that flags elevated crash risk before an incident
- Proactive interventions that coach and protect drivers in the moment
- Cross‑sector collaboration among governments, insurers, fleets, technology providers, and non-profit road safety advocates like FIA
This playbook exists. It needs consistent adoption.
From reaction to prevention with data-driven insights
OEMs have invested in vehicle safety through airbags, braking systems, and advanced driver assistance features. These technologies have saved lives and, in some cases, helped prevent collisions. Yet they remain car-focused rather than driver-focused.
They are designed first and foremost to protect occupants during a crash or through last-second interventions. The majority of accidents are still linked to human behavior, like speeding, distraction, fatigue, and risky decision-making. These are challenges that car systems alone cannot solve.
This is where data-driven insights come in. By shifting the focus to the driver and their context, prevention becomes possible:
- Detect high‑risk behaviors such as harsh braking, speeding, and distracted driving
- Anticipate hotspots by combining behavior, time of day, weather, and road context
- Deliver timely nudges and coaching to reduce risky driving behaviors
- Support insurers, gig, and mobility companies with continuous driver safety programs
By complementing vehicle safety technology with behavioral insights, the industry can finally move road safety from after-the-fact claims to before-it-happens prevention.
Privacy, equity, and adoption
Road safety technology must be privacy‑first, lightweight, and accessible. On‑device processing, transparent consent, and clear value for drivers increase trust and uptake. Programs should also consider equity so that safety benefits reach professional drivers, young drivers, and underserved communities.
What we do to improve road safety
Sentiance focuses on practical outcomes:
- Real‑time driving insights that identify risk in context
- Predictive crash risk scoring for targeted interventions
- In‑drive coaching and post‑drive feedback that build safer habits
- Program analytics that help partners measure reductions in claims and incidents
The goal is simple: fewer crashes, fewer injuries, and safer journeys.
An urgent call to action
Road safety is not an isolated transportation issue. It is a global emergency that can be solved with the right mix of data, design, and collaboration. Safer cars alone are not enough. Tackling human behavior is the next frontier for road safety. Join us in shifting the narrative from reacting to collisions to preventing them. With the right technology and partnerships, we can save lives every day.
👉 Get in touch with us to learn how data-driven insights can help improve road safety for your customers and communities.
