Distracted Driving 100 Times Worse Than Expected

For years, researchers have said distracted driving is a major cause of car accidents and deaths. By some measures, the problem is worse than drunk driving. A firm that analyzes driver behavior claims that the problem is 100 times worse than its experts had believed until recently.

Car research firm Zendrive claimed in its Zendrive’s 2018 Distracted Driving Snapshot that:

Overall, we found that 60-percent of drivers use their phones at least once during the day, and that at any given hour, on average, 40-percent of drivers use their phones at least once

Zendrive estimates that 69-million drivers use their phones each day.

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Zendrive has logged data on 100 billion hours of driving, its management says. The claim of 100 times earlier estimates is based on National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data that show that 660,000 drivers use devices that could distract them during daylight hours. This is 6% of all drivers measure by the NHTSA study.

Distracted driving increased in all states, except Vermont, from Zendrive’s study a year ago. Driver use of devices that could distract them were higher year over year in every city Zendrive covers. Distracted driving peaks just before noon and runs until runs until 5 p.m.

If the data are anywhere close to accurate, accidents and death from distracted driving may not only be worse than most studies show, the problem will get progressively worse. And with the rise, highway accidents will continue to rise until the problem is aggressively addressed.

Zendrive methodology:

Our study analyzed 7.1-billion miles further, to update our latest distracted driving study with fresher and deeper data. We covered 4.5-million drivers across all American states and territories, from December 2017 through February 2018.

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