IIHS Says Cell Phone Manipulation Behind the Wheel Way Up
It's pretty well established that using your phone behind the wheel is just about the most unsafe thing you can do in a vehicle. It's against the law, and officers are more than happy to write tickets for it. So that means we're all putting our phones down behind the wheel, right? Well, a new survey from the IIHS says we might not be. In fact, we're getting worse.
You may be more familiar with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's crash testing and headlight measuring, but they do a host of other work to try and help identify vehicle safety issues. Their latest is a roadside survey of drivers using their phone behind the wheel.
The IIHS put observers at 12 spots across northern Virginia. The observers counted vehicles and how many drivers were engaging in distracted driving behaviour. Things like talking on their hand-held phone, manipulating or holding their phone, manipulating vehicle systems like the infotainment, and talking, eating, smoking, and grooming. They had done the same study back in 2014 and so compared the two results.
The good news was that drivers talking on their phone was down, slightly, from 4.1 percent of drivers to 3.7. Fewer drivers were simply holding their phones, too, down from 4.9 to 2.8 percent.
The bad news was that 3.4 percent of drivers were "manipulating" their phones. So texting, tweeting, or browsing. It's hard to tell from the side of the road. That's up from 2.3 percent in the previous survey.
The IIHS says that the risk of a fatal crash is 66 percent higher when you're manipulating a phone compared with other distracted driving behaviours. With more drivers engaging in that activity, more fatal crashes are likely.
"The latest data suggest that drivers are using their phones in riskier ways," said David Kidd, senior research scientist with the IIHS's data side, HLDI. "The observed shift in phone use is concerning because studies consistently link manipulating a cellphone while driving to increased crash risk."
Just how dangerous is distracted driving right now in Canada? The OPP reported that just under 25 percent of car crash fatalities in the province in 2017 were the result of distracted driving. That's nearly double the number caused by alcohol and drugs, and more than attributed to speeding. So put the phone away.
