Deirdre Manning thought she was a good driver. She had never been involved in an accident or received a ticket in her life. But she was a busy mother with a demanding job, and was often on the phone while shuttling her 16-year-old daughter around Boston. When her daughter got her learner’s permit, Deirdre realized she wasn’t setting a good example. So she downloaded the Boston’s Safest Driver app onto her phone to find how good she really was and which habits she should be passing on to her daughter.

She was surprised at first by some of the behaviors that reduced her score, like cornering too quickly. She began to pay a lot more attention to the subtly changing speed limits throughout the city, and she stopped texting while driving.

It was harder than she thought. “It was a humbling experience,” she said. “I had to put my ego in the backseat and let other cars pass me.”

In 2017, Deirdre was awarded the prize for Boston’s Safest Driver. Like many Bostonians who have used the app, her improved driving is making Boston’s streets safer and she is a better example for her daughter.