At HopSkipDrive, we’re committed to ensuring that safety remains the top priority with every decision we make. Whether it’s through new platform features or through our continued efforts to provide greater transparency within the industry with our annual Safety Report, we are dedicated to using data to drive iterative improvement.
With our latest Safety Report, we examined data collected during 2021, during which time a total of 7 million safe miles were driven by HopSkipDrive CareDrivers across 18 markets in 8 states and Washington D.C. During this time, the majority of all rides scheduled through the HopSkipDrive platform — 99.7% to be precise — ended without a safety-related issue of any kind.
We’ve outlined 5 key takeaways from our 2021 Safety Report below, which demonstrate how far we go at HopSkipDrive to continually raise the bar on safety.
1. The number of HopSkipDrive safe rides delivered through the HopSkipDrive platform more than doubled from 2020.
With the ongoing bus driver shortages exacerbated by COVID-19, school districts struggled to resume normal transportation operations in 2021. HopSkipDrive quickly became a solution of choice for many schools across the country, helping get kids back to campus and providing a cost-effective solution for schools and districts.
Throughout 2021, more than 400,000 rides were completed on the HopSkipDrive platform, and we were able to serve a more extensive general education population.
We also expanded operations with the launch of three new markets: Austin, Texas, and Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
2. 100% of all rides ended without a critical safety incident
Consistent with previous years, an overwhelming majority of rides scheduled through the HopSkipDrive platform — 99.7% — ended without a safety-related issue of any kind. In addition, 100% of all rides ended without a critical safety incident.
For the small percentage of rides that did experience a safety-related concern, only 0.020% of those experienced a traffic collision while either en route to the pickup location or while the CareDriver was transporting a Rider.
For rides experiencing a traffic collision, only 0.004% were considered to be major.*
*A major collision is defined as one in which one of the vehicles was towed away from the scene or medical attention was needed, including just to get checked out by a professional.
3. CareDrivers continue to be some of the safest drivers on the road.
A 2018 Safe Driving Report published by EverQuote found that drivers nationally received an average safe driving score of 79 out of 100, with some of the “riskiest” drivers averaging around 70.
Even with more HopSkipDrive CareDrivers back on the road in 2021, the average safe driving score for CareDrivers in 2021 was 87.3 — an improvement of 1.0% from the previous year and 2.4% from 2019. (The average safe driving scores for HopSkipDrive CareDrivers in 2019, 2020 and 2021 are shown below.)
Although there were fewer cars on the road in 2020 due to health-related shutdowns caused by the pandemic, fatality rates increased due to riskier behaviors like speeding and phone use. The pandemic helped lead to new levels of technology and phone addiction that resulted in an increase in crashes across U.S. roads.
The increase in safe driving scores year over year for HopSkipDrive CareDrivers proves that they are not only safer on the road than the average driver but they also continue to show safety improvements — even as the roads get more dangerous every year.
4. We upped our investment in safety in 2021.
Ongoing innovation and improvements are essential to our mission of creating opportunity for all through mobility — especially when it comes to our RideIQ technology platform and our focus on safety as our number-one priority.
With continued advancements in our technology, we’re continually adding new features and coming up with new ways to ensure our Riders, CareDrivers, Ride Organizers, and parents and caregivers have everything they need, right at their fingertips.
Data has become an integral part of allowing for new ways to mitigate risk. We use mobile telematics solutions, which allow for raw sensor data from a user’s mobile device to be turned into critical insights that provide real-time information about driving habits.
This allows for a better understanding of risk and predictive behaviors, which enables us to maintain our stellar safety record by holding HopSkipDrive CareDrivers to strict qualifications and standards.
5. CareDrivers feel safe using the HopSkipDrive platform.
A recent survey of HopSkipDrive CareDrivers asked them to rate how safe they felt while driving on the HopSkipDrive platform. On average, participants rated safety on the platform as being a 9 out of 10 in comparison to other rideshare platforms.
Since most rides occur during the day, HopSkipDrive provides a solution for individuals in need of a safer option, making the platform a far more attractive option for empty-nesters or recent retirees who prefer the advance scheduling features that HopSkipDrive provides.
“I decided to become a CareDriver because I was retired from teaching. I had been in the field for 30 years, and I knew I didn’t want to go back into the classroom,” says Los Angeles-based CareDriver Dolores Seifert (pictured left). “HopSkipDrive gave me the opportunity to have some extra income and yet still be working with children.”
media brand