At the 2025 AASHTO Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, transportation officials discussed how non-traditional data sources are improving roadway safety throughout the infrastructure lifecycle. Panelists emphasized new approaches such as telematics, AI-powered video, and expanded data analysis to better understand risks and guide interventions.

Texas DOT is currently piloting ways to use cell phone telematics to map out “close call” locations and analyze driving behavior, allowing the agency to better pinpoint crash risks. Similarly, Connecticut DOT is using cell phone data to help improve its ability to identify roadway trends, finding drivers are driving safer and that there are fewer near-miss events.

The Capital Region Transportation Planning Agency, a Florida-based MPO, deployed AI-enabled cameras along a commercial corridor to help better identify risks to vulnerable road users (VRUs). The cameras accurately identified vehicle-VRU conflict points, and that data helped determine where countermeasures such as mid-block crosswalks and safer bus stop locations could provide significant safety benefits.

A representative from Kentucky's Transportation Cabinet emphasized that these emerging tools help agencies take more intentional, data-driven actions to reduce severe crashes, particularly for vulnerable users. Panelists agreed that such data-focused efforts are part of the broader philosophy that each and every time somebody uses the transportation system, they safely get to where they are going. 

Read the Full Article