New driving app set to rev up driving standards in South Africa

With the aim to create a nation of great drivers, Discovery Insure has released a new smartphone application that scientifically measures and incentivises driving behaviour. The Discovery Insure app is a global first in combining mobile technology and behavioural economics to create better drivers and improve road safety. It is available as a free download from the App Store or Google Play Store – for both Discovery Insure and non-Discovery Insure clients.  

“When people think of the relationship between smartphones and driving, their first thought is often negative.  We want to change this perception by demonstrating that smartphone telematics can be a powerful tool to improve driver behaviour and road safety,” says Anton Ossip, Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Insure.

The Discovery Insure app uses a smartphone’s accelerometer and GPS to provide a driver with detailed driving information including harsh braking and cornering, distracted driving, speeding, personalised driving tips, and a leaderboard function that ranks a driver’s score against that of their friends as well as other drivers in South Africa.

The Discovery Insure smartphone app was designed in collaboration with experts in the field of mobile sensory analytics as well as Rory Byrne,Special Engineering Adviser to Discovery Insure and F1 Legend. With his extensive background in Formula 1 car design, Rory believes the strength of the smartphone app is its real-time analysis of driving patterns. “In Formula 1 racing, immediate telematics data is crucial to both driver and team to enable real-time driving improvement as the car moves around the track. Similarly, the Discovery Insure smartphone app will provide the trip details while they are still fresh in the user’s mind, making it more likely for them to recall their risky driver behaviours and change them. In addition, we are also tapping into our competitive nature – it is not only F1 drivers that are competitive and we think the leaderboards will play a positive role in changing driver behaviour positively.”

Discovery Insure has also launched the Discovery Insure Driver Challenge – a challenge to South Africans to promote safer driving on our roads.  The competition will run from 1 June 2014 until 31 August 2014. There are weekly draws for a share of a R1 million Rand in BP petrol vouchers and a once-in-a-lifetime trip for four to the Monaco Grand Prix.

In line with the UN General Assembly’s resolution to improve global road safety by 2020 and our national objective to turn the tide of over 13 000 deaths on South African roads each year, the Discovery Insure Driver Challenge offers an innovative means of encouraging better driving behaviour.

“Research shows that the main cause of car accidents and motor vehicle fatalities is driver behaviour with over 90% of accidents being caused by the driver. We encourage members of the public to download the app, drive well, and challenge their friends and family to take part in our Driver Challenge,” concludes Ossip.