News | Distracted Driving

Study: Distracted Driving Triples Crash Risk

CBS New York
April 6, 2017

A new study shows cell phone use while driving more than triples the risk of getting in a crash.

The company Cambridge Mobile Telematics collected smartphone data from hundreds of thousands of drivers.

The study finds texting or even talking on the phone and driving are common factors in accidents. The company found phone distraction occurred in 52 percent of all trips that ended in a crash and drivers used the phone for an average of more than two minutes before the crash.

The study also found phone use by drivers only decreased slightly in state’s with handheld cell phone bans.

“At 65 miles an hour it takes four seconds to go the length of a football field,” said Sam Madden, chief scientist at Cambridge Mobile Telematics.

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