The government can only estimate how many people have died because of distracted driving. Law enforcement believes that, in 2022, 3,308 people lost their lives due to careless driving, but they believe the number is much higher.

According to experts, law enforcement officers can’t always know that a person was using his or her phone right before a fatal crash occurred. This makes it difficult to gather accurate data on the true extent of the problem. Consequently, the actual impact of careless driving on road fatalities is likely underreported.

Defining the Term

Distracted driving is when a driver does something that takes his or her attention away from the act of driving. In increasing numbers, these activities include texting or talking on one’s phone.

Texting is a particularly egregious distraction because you have your eyes off the road for five seconds whenever you send a text or read a text. If you are driving 55 miles per hour on the highway when you do this, you are traveling the length of a football field.

During the Pandemic

Cambridge Mobile Telematics supplies insurance companies with apps that allow the company to analyze driving behavior. During the pandemic, the number of drivers distracted by their phones increased.

Now that the pandemic is over, these numbers have not gone down. The apps allowed the company to see that drivers were engaging with their screens and handling their phones more often.

Experts believe that instances of distracted driving went up because of the culture of work in the United States. Unlike Europe, Americans want to make sure that their co-workers can get in touch with them no matter where they are. Another factor is the culture of the car in the U.S. Many more people drive their cars than their European counterparts.

Another factor contributing to this phenomenon during the pandemic is the automatic transmission. In the United States, 94% of drivers have vehicles with automatic transmissions while only 33% of U.K. drivers have this type of engine.

A manual transmission requires the driver to pay closer attention to the act of driving than the automatic transmission.

Fatalities

According to a CMT report, drivers chose to interact with their phones on 58% of their driving trips in 2022, contributing to distracted driving incidents. They also determined that one-third of these interactions occurred at speeds greater than 50 miles per hour.

In contrast to European drivers, American drivers were involved in a much larger number of crashes during the pandemic.

In 2020, 38,824 people died in crashes on U.S. roads. This number went up in 2021 to 42,915. The next year, fatalities went down slightly, but they were still very high at 42,795. This number includes 7,508 pedestrians.

Fixing the Issue

While many states have laws restricting texting and driving, drivers are still allowed to use cell phones to make phone calls in states such as Oklahoma. CMT determined that it may take more than passing laws to stop people from engaging in distracted driving by using their cell phones from behind the wheel.

The company found that, after a state passed a “hands-free” law, the company detected 13% less phone motion in the three months after the law was passed.

Then, things started to go back to the way that they were because law enforcement officers could not witness every instance of careless driving. Experts believe that laws need to be more enforceable, but the public also needs to be further educated.

The Role of Car Insurance Companies in Reducing Distracted Driving

Car insurance companies can help decrease instances of careless driving as well. For example, when people take advantage of telematics-based apps, their insurance rates go down. The research shows that those who receive feedback on their driving are less likely to use their cell phones.

Experts believe that the decision cannot be left to law enforcement officials and lawmakers alone. Also important in this matter are members of the transportation industry and drivers themselves.