Ride-hailing platform Grab is using telematics on its motorcycle taxis in Jakarta to reduce speeding and improve safety of both its passengers and drivers.

The Singapore-based firm is requiring its motorcycle taxi drivers in Indonesia’s capital city to use a GPS function so it can monitor and alert them when they go too fast.

Grab said speeding incidences in Jakarta dropped 35 per cent after it introduced telematics to monitor and send reminders to GrabBike drivers who went above the speed limit.

The move is part of its ‘Choose Safety’ campaign to encourage Indonesians to choose safety as a priority and take a proactive attitude to demanding preventive safety initiatives from their motorcycle taxi service, the company said in a statement.

Since it started defensive riding trainings in March, accidents involving GrabBike have declined about 10 per cent month-on-month.

“Many traffic accidents are both predictable and preventable, and Grab has put in place a holistic safety programme to reduce this,” said Ridzki Kramadibrata, managing director, Grab Indonesia.

Telematics gives it a better understanding of the speed and traffic patterns on different roads throughout the day, he claimed. “We help our drivers, who spend eight to ten hours on the roads, by sending reminders to stop speeding. These interventions have been effective at reducing the number of speeding incidences.”

With the huge amount of data available through its large base of drivers, monitoring travel speeds is just the first phase of other areas it is exploring to encourage safer driving, he said.

Singapore-based Grab, which claims a 95 per cent market share in taxi-hailing services in Southeast Asia, recently raised $750 million from investors, including Japan’s SoftBank, to expand its services in the region.