Knowing we wanted to bring comedy into the mix, we tapped into Toronto’s comedy community to develop hour-long podcasts for our drivers to enjoy. The content created focused on commuting and the everyday road issues we all experience.
In order to test if comedy had an impact on road rage from a data perspective, each of our drivers wore a biometric wristband to monitor physiological signals, including: heart rate, skin conductivity and activity. A dual-channel dash camera was also installed in each vehicle to record our driver’s reactions and driving conditions. This video was then analyzed through facial recognition software which monitored for six basic emotions and one neutral state: happiness, sadness, anger, surpise, fear and disgust. The Onlia Sense Safe Driving App was also used during each commute, which scored our drivers on a 100-point scale for acceleration, braking, cornering and speed.
By bringing all of these elements together, we were able to test if comedy positively impacts our driver’s behaviours. After a week-long commute testing the impact of comedy on our drivers’ emotional states, the use of comedy during stressful road situations had a calming effect. Based on facial recognition analysis, biometric data the Onlia Sense App and anecdotal stories from the drivers, comedy helped them calm down during road rage moments. One influencer even stated, “Laughter is the key… you’re so into the [comedy] that you forget that you’re in traffic.”
*Data collected from the Onlia Sense Safe Driving App.
Road rage can be a difficult to overcome, but there are fun and innovative ways to address this negative reaction. If you know you are driving through a heavy construction zone or will be in rush hour traffic, plan ahead and listen to some comedy. We can all do our part to make our commute safer, so why not have some laughs along the way.
Check out the full Calmedy Commute video here. Join our safety movement by following along on social media: @OnliaCA, #OnliaCA and #CalmedyCommute.