Detection of reckless driving in the Sub-Saharan informal public transportation system using acceleration-sensing telematics

Many lives are lost annually in Sub-Saharan Africa´s unique and vibrant informal public transportation system due to accidents caused by reckless driving, fatigue, and illegal overloading. Fleet management has been used extensively to determine the location of mobile assets in the event of theft, or as part of operational management. One of the main objectives of the work presented in this paper, is to build on existing fleet management systems to improve safety and drastically reduce road accidents and the unnecessary loss of lives. Through a thorough literature survey it was concluded that existing work on vehicle tracking and reporting systems, do not use accelerometers to monitor or detect reckless driving, despite the obvious advantages. Similar to other tracking devices, this project uses global positioning to determine position and velocity, but this project also incorporates the use of a 3-axis accelerometer augmented by a theoretical behavioral model to detect and report reckless behavior to a central online server. The accelerometer results show a clear difference between safe and reckless driving.