July 16, 2024, Cambridge, MA – Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT), the world’s leading telematics service provider, today announced the one-year results from Michigan’s hands-free law, enacted on June 30, 2023. In the year since the law took effect, Michigan has reduced distracted driving by 12.8%. CMT estimates that this reduction in phone use while driving has prevented 5,500 crashes, 3,000 injuries, 25 fatalities, and $218 million in economic damages.

Hands-free laws have proven to be effective at reducing distracted driving. In addition to Michigan, Ohio, Alabama, and Missouri implemented new hands-free laws in 2023, all seeing improvements. In the month before the law took effect in Michigan, drivers used their phones for 1 minute and 48 seconds per hour of driving. The month after, distraction fell to 1 minute and 36 seconds, a 12-second drop. The average distraction time per hour since then has been 1 minute and 35 seconds, with even lower rates in the last three months. For every 10% drop in distracted driving, CMT estimates that the driving fatality rate falls by 1.5%.

“We worked tirelessly for years to pass the hands-free bill in Michigan,” said Steve Kiefer, founder and chairman of The Kiefer Foundation. “CMT’s data shows that these laws work. They’re reducing distracted driving and saving lives. We hope other states look at Michigan’s success and enact their own hands-free laws to save even more lives on the road.” 

“Hands-free laws have proven to be the most effective tool states have to reduce distracted driving,” said Ryan McMahon, SVP of Strategy for CMT. “As we’ve measured the performance of hands-free laws in Michigan, Ohio, Alabama, and Missouri in the last year, every state has seen distracted driving fall, reducing crashes, injuries, and fatalities.” 

For more insights about distracted driving across the United States since 2020, see CMT’s 2024 road risk report: The State of US Road Risk in 2024

About Cambridge Mobile Telematics

Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) is the world’s largest telematics service provider. Its mission is to make the world’s roads and drivers safer. The company’s AI-driven platform, DriveWell Fusion®, gathers sensor data from millions of IoT devices — including smartphones, proprietary Tags, connected vehicles, dashcams, and third-party devices — and fuses them with contextual data to create a unified view of vehicle and driver behavior. Auto insurers, automakers, commercial mobility companies, and the public sector use insights from CMT’s platform to power risk assessment, safety, claims, and driver improvement programs. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, with offices in Budapest, Chennai, Seattle, Tokyo, and Zagreb, CMT measures and protects tens of millions of drivers worldwide every day.