SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Zendrive, the world’s largest and fastest-growing mobile driver analytics platform, today announced the results of its School Safety Snapshot, which measured phone use and aggressive driving around 75,000 U.S. schools. The study found that driving near Victory Christian School in Jackson County, North Carolina, was the safest while driving near Trinity Downtown Lutheran Church and School in Harris County, Texas, was the most dangerous driving. Based on anonymized data of 3.8 million drivers taking 320 million trips, the Zendrive School Safety Study also ranked the safest and most dangerous driving around schools in 2,222 counties throughout the U.S.

“Everyone has a mobile phone these days, and as we’ve found, the majority of drivers typically use one when they are behind the wheel,” said Jonathan Matus, CEO of Zendrive. “With collisions at an all-time high, in large part because of distracted driving, it’s become even more imperative that we do more to protect our children. Our findings we hope shed some light on just how widespread risky driving around schools has become.”

Among the studies key findings:

• California was the state with the most dangerous driving near schools; Vermont was the safest
• New York County, which covers the island of Manhattan, was the county with the most dangerous driving; La Salle County, Texas, was the safest
• The most dangerous time for driving around schools is the critical pick-up time between 4 to 5 p.m.
• Michigan was worst state for “distracted phone use” and “aggressive acceleration” near schools (Florida and California ranked #2 on each list, respectively)
• California was the worst state for “hard braking” near schools, with Michigan in the #2 spot.
• Schools with the most dangerous driving are in urban areas with large populations, such as counties that contain major cities (e.g., New York County, NY; Dallas County, TX, and San Francisco County, CA).

With about one out of every 11 U.S. public school within 500 feet of heavily trafficked roads, some 4.4 million students are in greater risk. Zendrive’s distracted driver behavior study released in April 2017 found that Americans use their phones 88 percent of the time they get behind the wheel. From 2015 to 2016, there was a 14 percent rise in traffic deaths – the biggest increase in 50 years – with distracted driving being a major contributor, according to experts. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens.

Zendrive uses the sensors in smartphones to measure and analyze driver behavior in real-time. With more than 30 billion miles analyzed (and counting), Zendrive’s ability to predict collisions is up to 6 times more accurate than the auto insurance industry’s leaders, according to leading actuarial firm Milliman. For the study, Zendrive aggregated and anonymized 3,826,675 individual drivers, 2,222 counties, and 75,000 schools in every state in the United States for the month of April 2017. The study was based on the following driving behaviors: Phone use (handheld, hands-free; texting/emailing; and simply fiddling with a phone while vehicle is moving), rapid acceleration, and hard braking.

To find out where your school, county or state ranked according to driving behavior, Zendrive has created this easy-to-embed interactive map.

“It’s back-to-school time with children walking and biking to and from school, or getting on and off buses — often during the peak hours for distracted and dangerous driving, as the study highlights,” said Cassandra Isidro, Executive Director of the Safe Routes to School National Partnership. “These findings highlight the critical need for drivers to be more careful, for greater investments in sidewalks and crosswalks, and for Safe Routes to School programming in all communities.”

“For too long, our most vulnerable citizens — children — have been disproportionately killed by motor vehicle crashes,” said U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon. “We must do better. Communities across the country are embracing road safety strategies like Vision Zero and developing better information about the risks people take while driving. We can put this information to use if Congress would pass my legislation to expand Vision Zero grants to communities around the country.”

Below is a complete list of the top and bottom ten findings from each major category studied by Zendrive.

Bottom 10 Schools with the Most Dangerous Drivers

1. Trinity Downtown Lutheran Church and School, Harris County, Texas
2. East Side Elementary School, P.S. 267, New York County, New York
3. Pegasus School Of Liberal Arts & Sciences, Dallas County, Texas
4. Bessie Carmichael Middle School & Pre K, San Francisco County, California
5. The Covenant School, Dallas County, Texas
6. The Frances Xavier Warde School, Cook County, Illinois
7. Schools of 111 E 33rd St (Manhattan Academy for Arts and Language, Murray Hill Academy, Norman Thomas High School, Success Academy High School of the Liberal Arts), New York County, New York
8. The Mary Lindley Murray School, P.S. 116 Manhattan, New York County, New York
9. Saint Cyril of Jerusalem School, and Valley Beth Shalom Day School, Los Angeles County, California
10.  Ferrahian High School, Los Angeles County, California

Top 10 Schools with the Safest Drivers

1. Victory Christian School, Jackson County, North Carolina
2. Hillcrest Elementary School, Silver Bow County, Montana
3. Dunsmuir High School, Siskiyou County, California
4. Martin Luther King High School, DeKalb County, Georgia
5. Georgetown Community School, Clear Creek County, Colorado
6. Kildeer Countryside Elementary School, Lake County, Illinois
7. Expressions Learning Arts Academy, Alachua County, Florida
8. Spring Hill High School, Mariposa County, California
9. Tyronza Elementary School, Poinsett County, Arkansas
10. Encinal Elementary School, La Salle County, Texas

Bottom 10 States with Most Dangerous Drivers Near Schools

51. California
50. D.C.
49. Florida
48. Illinois
47. Michigan
46. New York
45. Arizona
44. Louisiana
43. Nevada
42. Texas

Top 10 States with Safest Drivers Near Schools

1. Vermont
2. New Hampshire
3. West Virginia
4. Wyoming
5. Maine
6. South Dakota
7. Massachusetts
8. Virginia
9. Maryland
10.  North Carolina

Bottom 10 Counties with Most Dangerous Drivers Near Schools

1. New York County, New York
2. San Francisco County, California
3. Kings County, New York
4. Queens County, New York
5. Miami-Dade County, Florida
6. Orange County, California
7. Los Angeles County, California
8. Bronx County, New York
9. Montgomery County, Texas
10.  Walton County, Georgia

Top 10 Counties with Safest Drivers Near Schools

1. La Salle County, Texas
2. Braxton County, West Virginia
3. Claiborne County, Tennessee
4. Montgomery County, Missouri
5. Jackson County, North Carolina
6. Essex County, New York
7. Ravalli County, Montana
8. Nelson County, Virginia
9. Stewart County, Tennessee
10. Washakie County, Wyoming

About Zendrive

Founded in 2013, Zendrive is the world’s largest and fastest-growing mobile Driver Analytics platform. By using artificial intelligence to analyze more than 30 billions of miles of driving behavior data, Zendrive offers powerful insights to deliver unparalleled visibility into safety and risk exposure for insurers, fleets, everyday drivers, and even city planners. The company is headquartered in San Francisco and is venture funded by a group of investors led by Sherpa Capital, First Round Capital, BMW i Ventures, NYCA Partners and Fontinalis. For more information about Zendrive, visit www.zendrive.com, and follow @zendrive on Twitter.

For more information, please contact:

Mark de la Viña
Consort Partners for Zendrive
press@zendrive.com
415-282-4795

Nicole L’Esperance
Communications Director
Office of U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer
Nicole.Lesperance@mail.house.gov

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SOURCE Zendrive