During the pandemic, distracted driving increased, and it hasn’t gone down since.
Until relatively recently, good data on the problem of distracted driving has been hard to find. The government estimates that 3,522 people died because of it in 2021, but experts say the official number probably majorly undercounts the number of deaths, in part because police are rarely able to definitively prove that a driver was distracted right before a crash.
In the last few years, though, the data on distracted driving has gotten better. Cambridge Mobile Telematics is a company that partners with major insurance companies to offer downloadable apps that drivers can use to save money on their rates. Via the apps, Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) uses mobile phone sensors to measure driving behavior, including whether a person is speeding, holding their phone, or interacting with an unlocked screen while driving (the company says it doesn’t collect information on what the drivers are doing on their phones). Its work gives the company insight into the driving behaviors of more than 10 million people.
CMT recently analyzed driver behavior during millions of car trips. What it found should be troubling to anyone who uses a road in the US: During the pandemic, American drivers got even more distracted by their phones while driving. The amount of distracted driving hasn’t receded, even as life has mostly stabilized.
It always irks me when someone is tailgating me with one hand at 12 o’clock and one holding their phone. Sorry for driving 5 over the speed limit in front of your truck. And why are you having a phone conversation while holding your phone when I know damn well your truck has Bluetooth?
People do the “hold the phone out on speaker to have a conversation thing” because people watched The Kardashians do it (so that the camera mics can pick up both ends of the conversation). Now people think that’s how important people talk on the phone. It’s absolutely removed and a meta form of main character syndrome.
I’ve never watched the kardashians, but I do this when I’m having a conversation on speaker because it doesn’t work very well if you leave the phone in your pocket.
If you actually need to use your speakerphone because the handset speakers aren’t good enough or busted, or if you need to be on speakerphone for the benefit of people around you who need to listen in, those are valid reasons. Too many people don’t have a valid reason.