Leveraging Mobility Data for Road Safety: A Data-Driven Approach

Understanding how people move and the interactions that occur between the different modes of transport used within a city is fundamental to improving road safety, particularly for vulnerable road users (VRUs) such as pedestrians, cyclists, and micromobility users. High-resolution and up-to-date mobility data provides invaluable insights into traffic flow, high-risk areas, and emerging mobility trends. By analysing this data, authorities, urban planners, and other stakeholders can identify risk factors, assess the impact of new mobility patterns, and implement evidence-based interventions to enhance safety and optimise infrastructure development.

“At Nommon, we specialise in mobility data analytics, leveraging large-scale mobile phone data, public transport smart card data, mobile applications data, and other geolocated big data sources to study population movement patterns.,” says Jeronimo Bueno. “By integrating multiple data sources and applying advanced analytics, we develop decision-support tools that empower cities, transport authorities, and mobility service providers to make informed decisions that enhance urban mobility and safety.”

Nommon’s approach enables stakeholders to:

• detect mobility trends and shifts in transportation behaviours
• identify congestion hotspots and accident-prone areas
• evaluate the impact of new mobility services and infrastructure changes
• support data-driven policy-making for safer and more sustainable urban environments.

Identifying the mobility needs of VRUs

Recognising the need for innovative road safety solutions, we joined the SOTERIA project, a European initiative designed to accelerate the attainment of the Vision Zero EU goal for VRUs through a holistic framework of innovative models, tools, and services. As part of this project, Nommon are evolving their solutions to develop advanced decision-support tools that offer a comprehensive assessment of urban mobility safety risks. They achieve this by integrating mobile phone data with various complementary sources, including:

• connected vehicle data, which provides insights into traffic patterns, speed variations, and driving behaviors
• micromobility data, capturing the movement of e-scooters, bicycles, and other lightweight mobility options
• app-based mobility insights, offering travel patterns from navigation and mobility platforms.

“By fusing these diverse datasets, we can accurately estimate the volume and flow of people moving across city roads, segmented by user type. This approach not only provides a clearer picture of overall mobility trends but also facilitates the identification of high-risk areas and population exposure based on accident and incident data,” explains Jeronimo Bueno. “By analysing these factors, we can uncover key explanatory variables behind accidents, prioritise intervention areas, and support cities in implementing targeted safety measures and infrastructure improvements.”

As part of the SOTERIA project, Nommon are demonstrating their solutions within the Living Lab in Madrid, a real-world environment where we apply our mobility data analytics to improve urban safety. Through the Living Lab, they will showcase how new data-driven approaches can be used to:

• identify risk-prone areas
• assess the impact of new transportation policies and safety interventions
• develop predictive models to anticipate and mitigate future road safety risks
• provide actionable insights to city officials and mobility planners to foster safer urban environments.

The work in SOTERIA showcases the transformative potential of mobility data analytics in enhancing road safety. By leveraging cutting-edge data analysis, Nommon contributes to building smarter, more resilient, and safer cities where road safety is proactively managed and risks are significantly reduced for all users.

About the author

Jerónimo Bueno is Researcher and Product Owner at Nommon. He leads R&D projects and drives location intelligence innovation at Nommon Lab through high-resolution mobility data and predictive analytics. He is responsible for the demonstration of SOTERIA solutions, coordinating their deployment across four Living Labs in different European cities.

About Nommon

Nommon is a research-intensive technology company that develops and provides cutting-edge decision support tools based on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. The company is a pioneer in Europe in the study of mobility through anonymised mobile network data. As part of the SOTERIA project, Nommon uses different geolocated Big Data sources for the analysis of travel behaviour and demand prediction in order to better identify the mobility needs of VRUs.

The piece has been authored by NOMMON.

Photo credits (title photo): Photo by Robert Tjalondo - Free to use under the Unsplash License