How the Solar Eclipse Changed Commercial Driving Behaviors

While the recent solar eclipse was indeed a remarkable event in the skies across America, it also drove far different behaviors for commercials drivers on our roads.

Data from professional driver monitoring videos tells a curious story. The rate of drivers “off identifiable roadway” (pulling off to the side of the road) was 68 percent higher on the day of the eclipse, and events involving “other communications device” (something other than a cell phone) were 47 percent higher. The takeaway: Commercial drivers, as a group, were likely to pull over to take a picture.

But the real telltale sign? Vehicles recorded as “driving faster than the posted speed limit” increased by 35 percent on the day of the eclipse, which could be drivers trying to make up time after playing hooky to watch the celestial events unfold.

These are not just anecdotal stories, but based on actual data. Here’s how we know: Video safety leader Lytx reviewed 43 behaviors associated with driving events of 239,000 vehicles on 20 consecutive Mondays leading up to Aug. 13, 2017, the Monday before the eclipse, and separately analyzed the same data set for driving events captured during the daylight hours of Aug. 21, 2017. The vehicles spanned all commercial driving segments: trucking, distribution, waste, transit, construction and services.

In terms of scale, more than 2,200 commercial and government fleets comprising more than 400,000 vehicles use the DriveCam program.

Thanks to Lytx for shining some additional sunlight on this historic day.

Tags: Lytx

Category: Driver Stuff, Featured, Management