Assistant chief recommends Mobileye camera units after audit finds distracted-driving link in local police crashes

Assistant Chief Alligood told the Woodstock mayor and council on May 11 that a department review covering January 2024 through the present found 33 police-vehicle accidents, 18 of which were determined to be at fault. Alligood said 66% of at-fault crashes showed some element of distraction and that daytime crashes accounted for most incidents.

"We looked at data going back to January 2024. Through doing that, we saw that we had a total of 33 accidents involving our police department vehicles. Of those accidents, 18 of them we were determined to be at fault," Assistant Chief Alligood said during a presentation to the council.

Alligood reviewed three vendor approaches to reduce collisions: Samsara (telemetrics with an optional inside-facing camera and a subscription model), Mobileye (a windshield-mounted collision-avoidance camera that provides audible and visual in-vehicle alerts) and Ford Pro telematics (data-only telematics without a built-in collision camera). He said Samsara's quote for a 40-vehicle rollout would cost roughly $93,600 over a three-year contract at the demo pricing discussed; Mobileye would be a one-time purchase for 40 aftermarket units, which Alligood estimated at about $50,040, and Ford Pro telematics was presented as a roughly $28,000 subscription-layer option for telematics on 40 vehicles over three years (the department did not demo Ford Pro).

Alligood described trade-offs: Samsara provides rich telematics and interior monitoring that can identify seat-belt use, distraction and other driver behaviors; Mobileye gives a strong outward-facing alert that, in the department's pilot work and demos, directly prompts drivers to correct lane departures and unsafe following distances without recurring subscription fees.

"The audible alert you get will make you want to change your driving. Unless you just enjoy hearing beeping, it will remind you to use your blinker, keep your gap, your reactionary gap on vehicles in front of you," Alligood said of the Mobileye demo.

Several council members pressed staff on whether telematics data would deliver better training and oversight. One council member noted that four of the at-fault accidents were rear-end collisions (cases where Mobileye's outward-facing system might help), but that telematics could address a wider set of behaviors and provide supervisory evidence for coaching.

City staff said some newer Ford vehicles being purchased for the fleet now come with Mobileye installed at the factory and that adding aftermarket Mobileye units could extend collision-avoidance coverage to older vehicles without recurring subscription costs. Alligood said the department's recommendation leaned toward purchasing 40 Mobileye aftermarket units as an immediate, one-time investment to reduce the types of avoidable collisions the department is seeing.

No binding procurement or appropriation vote occurred at the meeting; council members asked staff to return with follow-up information about total lifecycle costs, whether a mixed approach (telematics plus collision-avoidance) was feasible, and options for phased purchases.

The council discussion closed with members asking staff to provide more detailed comparisons (projected total cost of ownership, pilot results, and expected data outputs for training) before moving to a final procurement decision.