The confetti has been swept up, the trophy has been lifted and spirited away to its new Mile High home, and traffic has returned to pre-Big Game levels of insufferability. Now that the Super Bowl is over, we’ll do what every football fan does: look at the highlights.
Do people’s Super Bowl driving habits reflect the pace of the game? We compared last year’s action packed game to this year’s to see how drivers reacted.
The Automatic Postgame Show
Defense was the name of the game for Super 50… some called it boring. We don’t want to brag or anything but if you received our pre-Super Bowl prediction email, you’ll note that we called it.
Last year’s Super Bowl 49 went back and forth and wasn’t decided until there was only 26 seconds left in the game. It was ranked the 3rd BEST Super Bowl of all time on NFL.com.
The difference in driving behavior between the two games is remarkable.
Defense Wins Championships and… Increases Fuel Efficiency?
We analyzed hard event data from both Super Bowls and compared that data to an average winter Sunday. Hard events are hard brakes (when people step on the brakes too hard) and hard accelerations (accelerating too fast).
During SB49, hard events were through the roof, including a dramatic spike during the 4th quarter Patriot comeback. Hard accelerations and brakes continued well into the night after the game ended.
2015‘s Super Bowl 49 ended famously with this interception
On the other hand, this year’s game seemed to lull drivers into a state of measured and efficient driving.
How?
See for yourself. As early as the 3rd quarter, hard events fell below average and plummeted to an admirable -20% by 9 p.m. Stingier than a prom night curfew!
Calm and collected driving is the result of… boredom.
The Final Score
Our prediction rang true. We called a slow, methodical game in last week’s email.
As the saying goes, “the numbers don’t lie.” Our prediction was pretty spot on, and not just for the Bay Area. While there wasn’t much knocking down happening, things certainly dragged this year.
Just remember, when you are chanting “DE-FENSE DE-FENSE” you’re also advocating for fuel efficiency and less aggressive driving from your fellow road warriors. That’s a home team advantage we can all get behind.
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