92% of Drivers Use Phones & Get C Grades in Safe Driving in America
Auto Connected Car News
Just in time for Distracted Driving Awareness Month, we have a new report from EverQuote finding that the majority of drivers in the United States (92%) uses their phone while behind the wheel.
The 2017 Safe Driving Report, which analyzed EverDrive driving data from more than 2.7 million vehicle trips and 230 million miles driven, reveals that a deadly combination of speeding and cell phone use while driving is a common and dangerous driving habit across the United States.
Drivers in the South can’t put down their phones. Unfortunately, Southerners have the highest phone use rate while driving with 41 percent of all trips taken involving use of a phone. The rest of the country uses their phone slightly more than a third of the time while driving. Midwesterners use their phone on 37 percent of drives; those in the Northeast picked up their device on 35 percent of drives, while those in the West average a phone use rate of 34 percent when driving.
- Male drivers used their phone 39% of all trips taken compared to 43% of female drivers.
- Drivers under 21, used their phone during 45% of all trips taken, compared to drivers over the age of 21 who used their phone 39%.
- A recent study by Cambridge Mobile Telematics, which included data from EverDrive trips, found more than 50% of crashes occurred after the driver had used his or her phone. Additionally, those drivers were distracted for an average of 135 seconds before the crash.