News | Distracted Driving

Study reveals Americans drove distracted in 36 percent of trips

Land Line Magazine
April 3, 2018

Perhaps not too surprising for most, recent data reveals that distracted driving is only getting worse. Research conducted by telematics and behavioral analytics company Cambridge Mobile Telematics shows distracted driving occurring in more than 36 percent of trips across the United States, a 5 percent increase from last year.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Cambridge Mobile Telematics has a smartphone app that collects data and provides advice to motorists to become a better driver. This is done by analyzing five driving behaviors: phone use while driving, at-risk speeding, hard braking, harsh acceleration and cornering.

Of the more than 65 million trips compiled in the data, 38 percent of distracted driving occurred between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., making the evening drive the most susceptible to distraction.

Fortunately, most distracted driving was not done at highway speeds. Most distractions occurred at speeds between 30 mph and 40 mph, nearly 20 percent. That percentage steadily decreases the faster the vehicle traveled.

In fact, more than half of distracted driving occurred on local roads. Although distracted driving crashes have been increasing, most drivers are not distracted for a long period of time. Average distraction time per trip was only 2.67 seconds per mile.

CMT also analyzed distracted driving in eight cities: Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

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