CAMBRIDGE, MA, JULY 21, 2016 – EverQuote, Inc. and Cambridge Mobile Telematics today announced results of the EverDrive Safe Driving Challenge in Massachusetts and New York, including contest winners and data on driving habits. Results show that Massachusetts’s drivers have a slight edge on safe driving, beating out their New York counterparts. Both states struggle though with distracted driving and speeding. Promisingly, consistent users of the EverDrive app demonstrated significant improvements in their driving quality within days of using the app.

“Massachusetts and New York are historically two of the most dangerous driving states, and we saw an opportunity to make roads safer in local communities,” said EverQuote’s EVP of Consumer Products, Andrew Ressler. “EverDrive helps users nationwide improve driving skills, and the majority of users, including those in Massachusetts and New York, improved by approximately 30 percent over the last two months.”

The Challenge was conducted through EverDrive, a new safe-driving application developed by Cambridge Mobile Telematics and EverQuote. EverDrive measures drivers on speeding, phone use, braking, acceleration and cornering.

Key findings from the Challenge include:

MASSACHUSETTS’S DRIVERS EDGE OUT NEW YORKERS
Although both states ranked among the bottom 15 states for driving in the United States, New York drivers were overall two percent worse than Massachusetts’s drivers. Drivers in North Reading, Massachusetts and Amherst, New York had the best safety scores; unsurprisingly, Boston and New York City had the poorest scores.

STOP PHONING A FRIEND
Nationwide, EverDrive found on average distracted driving occurs for nearly a half a mile per trip. For Massachusetts and New York drivers, it is a particularly pressing issue—drivers are distracted by their phones on nearly one-third of all trips, and on those drives, they are distracted on average 3.5 times.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently estimated traffic fatalities in the United States increased 8 percent in 2015, with 35,000 deaths in vehicle crashes. Early findings point to distracted driving as a major cause for the uptick in deaths.

EASE UP ON THE PEDAL
New York and Massachusetts fared in the bottom ten nationwide in speeding—their drivers are at least 10 MPH over the limit 50 percent of the time.

IMPROVE DRIVING SKILLS THROUGH EVERDRIVE
Consistent EverDrive users rank as safer drivers, with phone use reduced by 37 percent by the end of the competition. Due to the behavioral awareness with accurate feedback and tips, and incentives such as leaderboards and rewards in the app, driving quality improved by 30 percent in the speeding, harsh braking, acceleration and cornering categories.

“EverDrive got people excited about becoming better drivers, and confirms that driving skills can improve,” said Hari Balakrishnan, CTO of Cambridge Mobile Telematics. “With new rewards and other exciting features coming soon in the app, we are excited to continue our mission to make roads safer by making drivers better.”

WINNER OF THE EVERDRIVE SAFE DRIVING CHALLENGE
EverQuote awarded David Bentley of Medford, Massachusetts the top prize of $10,000 after he recorded a perfect score during the two-week skills-based portion of the competition. His score is 30 points higher than the average driver between the two states. The best drivers in various towns and cities in the two states were also awarded prizes.

The EverDrive Safe Driving Challenge began with a nationwide sweepstakes in April 2016 and ended with a two-week skills-based competition between Massachusetts and New York from June 12-25. During the contest, more than 20 millions miles were driven over 1.75 million trips.

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