AlvaroRT/ShutterstockOur phone addiction is here to stay it seems, and it's, quite predictably, leading to crashes. A new IIHS study says that the number of crashes involving phone use is at least seven times greater than what appears in police reports, compared to telematics data.Similar to another study that found that drivers are more likely to use their phones while speeding, the study used anonymized data from insurance companies' safe driving programs, where drivers allow their driving to be electronically monitored for potential discounts. IIHS worked with Cambridge Mobile Telematics to analyze data from four states between 2021 and 2024, linking crashes reported by telematics with their associated police reports.Police cited phone use as a factor in 1% of the roughly 17,000 crashes within the data sample. Telematics tell a different story, snitching on phone use within 30 seconds of the crash in 7% of single-vehicle crashes and 8% of crashes involving two vehicles. The study also counts cell phone use as not just calling or texting, but also "manipulation," which is any tapping or swiping on the screen, or "passive use," which is simply having the phone unlocked.AdvertisementAdvertisementThere were 15,301 reported two-vehicle crashes within the data, and 1,543 involving a single vehicle. This indicates that phone use may have prevented the driver from noticing or avoiding the other vehicle. The laws against hand-held phone use while driving seem to be working, with police reporting only seven cases, and telematics reporting 22 within 30 seconds of crashing. Telematics record a much higher rate of other phone use, with 90 crashes involving hands-free calls, 639 with phone manipulation, and 586 with passive use. Police reported one, 20, and 20, respectively.Read more: New 50% Vehicle Levy Part Of Escalating Trade War Between U.S. And Canada Sparked By Old Auto Tariff HoldupsAn imperfect study that still makes a pointPattikky/ShutterstockI believe this study's overall findings. Drivers aren't going to admit to police they were on their phones shortly before they crashed because they know it's illegal, yet telematics systems know. But hands-free use is legal. Police would be less likely to report this because it's not breaking the law as it's currently written. Manipulation covers a wide variety of uses. It could be a simple swipe to make a notification go away to read the next turn on a navigation app. It could also be actively scrolling through and reading emails rather than watching the road. Both are distractions, but one is far more serious than the other.AdvertisementAdvertisementSimilarly, passive use could be as distracting as watching YouTube or Netflix, which is unsafe and illegal in most places, or as innocent as having a navigation app on the screen that you weren't even looking at. The telematics make no distinction between these. They also don't include use of Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, because they still work while the phone is locked. It doesn't count use of a car's built-in infotainment system at all, which can be equally as complex and distracting as a phone, and they control practically everything in modern cars. If anything, these statistics should be even higher if they took all screens into account.Phone use 30 seconds before impact is a relevant statistic, but not necessarily a direct cause and effect, either. The study also gave numbers for the various types of phone use 10 seconds before, which are roughly half as many crashes but still several times higher than what police report. This seems like a more direct correlation, as your mind is more likely to still be on whatever you were looking at 10 seconds ago than 30. The study's overall point remains valid, and disturbing. We've seen this sort of discrepancy in other studies, and it seems the situation hasn't changed.Want more like this? Join the Jalopnik newsletter to get the latest auto news sent straight to your inbox, and follow us or add us as a preferred search source on Google.Read the original article on Jalopnik.
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