We can’t understand the world without considering context. Context provides valuable insights into a situation. It helps us to decide whether we face danger or not, and maybe how much. Devoid of context, we’re left confused or uncertain about how to react to what’s before us. 

Context helps us to understand the nuances of a situation. It provides us with the information we need to make an informed decision about how to approach it. While a country road can be fun to drive on during a quiet, sunny morning, it may be potentially too dangerous on a rainy night.

Context helps us to interpret a situation correctly. It provides us with the background information needed to understand what is happening. A hard brake and a swerve can save a pedestrian's life, but for our suddenly awoken passenger, it can feel like another reminder of why they don't like driving with us.

When judging others, context can help us to explain - and at times even justify - actions that, in other cases, would be considered irrational, even dangerous. Yet when assessing driving - and, in particular, car insurance premiums - context is absent from the equation. How can this be? The auto insurance and road safety industries rely mainly on statistical (i.e., outdated) data; while the shiny new tools coming to the market, primarily based on sensing movement through cellphones, are too abstract to bring enough nuance to driving behavior.

Streetscope's Context-Aware Safety Index (CASI) is a new way to measure risk. The main output of our SHM platform, CASI data, provides insurers and safety engineers with contextual safety performance indicators vital for correctly assessing driving conditions.

Context is an invaluable tool for helping us to make important decisions about our safety. Let's make sure we use it when assessing driving and drivers.

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Photo by Adrian Williams on Unsplash

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