Cambridge, MA, September 24, 2024—Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT), the world’s largest telematics service provider, today announced that Missouri’s Siddens Bening Hands-Free Law has prevented over 1,000 crashes since it began on August 28, 2023. In the year since the law took effect, Missouri has reduced distracted driving by 5.1%, helping avoid 660 injuries, 5 fatalities, and $22 million in economic damages.

“We’re excited about the progress we’ve already seen from the Siddens Bening Law – saving lives and preventing hundreds of injuries by reducing distracted driving,” said Jon Nelson, State Highway Safety and Traffic Engineer for MoDOT. “The analysis shows the law is making Missouri’s roads safer every day. It will have a lasting impact on reducing distractions and protecting all road users.”

“We are encouraged to see the potential this law has to save lives on Missouri roadways,” said Angela Nelson, AAA Missouri Vice President of Public Affairs and Government Relations. “It will take a commitment from all of us to put our phones down while behind the wheel to continue to reduce crashes and drive down fatalities.”

“CMT’s analysis of Missouri’s hands-free law clearly shows that these laws consistently reduce smartphone based distracted driving,” said Ryan McMahon, Senior Vice President of Strategy at CMT. “CMT’s research shows that when distracted driving falls, so do crashes, injuries, and fatalities. In every state where hands-free legislation has been introduced in the past year — from Missouri to Ohio, Alabama, and Michigan — distracted driving has dropped, saving lives.”

In the month prior to the law, drivers in Missouri spent an average of 2 minutes and 7 seconds per hour using their phones while driving. After the law took effect, distracted driving dropped significantly, with the average phone usage per hour reaching a low of 1 minute and 57 seconds. After one year, average distraction time has decreased by 5.1% compared to the month before the law went into effect. 

Missouri was the 28th state to introduce hands-free legislation and the fourth in 2023 after Ohio, Alabama, and Michigan. The law requires hands-free phone use for drivers of all ages and has been in a grace period since it began. Drivers will begin receiving distracted driving citations beginning January 1, 2025.

Hands-free laws have proven effective at reducing distracted driving. In all, Missouri, Ohio, Alabama, and Michigan have prevented over 18,000 crashes, 10,000 injuries, 80 fatalities, and $700 million in economic damages since they introduced their respective laws in 2023. 

For more insights about distracted driving across the United States since 2020, see CMT’s 2024 distracted driving report: 2024 report.

*Estimates based on the change in crash rate from distracted driving and data from NHTSA’s report The Economic and Societal Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2019: $340 billion in crash damages from 14.2 million crashes in 2019, averaging $23,954 per crash

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.