An analysis of driver behavior data found that drivers are growing more distracted by their devices.
Distracted driving has become one of the leading causes of fatal injury accidents. If you were involved in a crash caused by a distracted driver, you know the tragic consequences of this bad habit.
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Drivers are 10 percent more distracted now than last year, a problem driven largely by smartphones, according to new research from Zendrive, a company that collects and analyzes data on driver behaviors. They share insights every April to commemorate Distracted Driving Awareness Month.
The results found that “phone addicts”— defined as those people who are unwilling to put away their phones while driving — pick up their phones four times more than the average driver, use their phone six times longer than the general population, and have their eyes off the road 28 percent of the time.
And their numbers are increasing — the number of “hardcore phone addicts” identified by the company doubled from last year. Today, one in 12 drivers on the road is a phone addict. If these trends continue, as many as one in every five drivers could be in the phone addict category by 2022.
This growing category of hyper-connected individuals exhibits a pattern of dangerously distracted behavior unlike any other group of risky drivers on the road – and you could be one of them.
Drunk vs. Distracted Driving: Which is Worse?
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Drivers distracted by their phones may already be more dangerous than drunk drivers. Phone addicts are glued to their phones, so they’re more distracted, more dangerous, and more likely to cause a crash.
“Phone addicts have positioned themselves as public enemy number one, replacing drunk drivers as the ultimate threat on the road,” says the 2019 distracted driving study, released this week.
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In 2017, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported 10,874 deaths as a result of drunk driving and 3,166 deaths from distracted drivers. But fatalities caused by driver phone use are more difficult to track and are more likely underreported.
In addition, those people are driving day and night, while drunk drivers are most active between midnight and 3 a.m. According to the Zendrive report, it means “that both in number and in timing, distracted drivers are a bigger danger than drunk drivers.”
The most commonly used apps while driving are music and phone apps, edging out social media and texting. State laws and municipal regulations that ban the use of handheld devices entirely while driving could help the problem; however, these distracted driving laws are difficult to enforce.
Contact the Distracted Driving Injury Lawyers at Cory Watson
If you or a loved one suffered a serious injury caused by someone else’s distracted driving, you may be eligible for financial compensation.
Contact the experienced distracted driving lawyers at Cory Watson Attorneys immediately to protect your legal rights. We can offer the peace of mind that your case will be handled with expertise and compassion as we seek justice for you and your loved ones.
To find out how Cory Watson Attorneys can help you, call (877) 562-0000 or fill out the free online consultation form.
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