You can be the most responsible driver on the road who never looks at their phone, always checks their mirrors, obeys the speed limit, and avoids unsafe maneuvers, but that doesn’t change the fact that you share the road with everyone else. Unfortunately many of the drivers you share the road with are not committed to safety or even following the rules of the road. So it’s disturbing to know that according to a new IIHS study, drivers are more likely to use their phones while speeding, especially on freeways.
IIHS reached these conclusions by analyzing data collected by car insurance companies’ safe-driving apps. These apps promise cost savings for drivers who enroll and allow the apps to transmit their driving data to the insurer, who then adjusts the driver’s insurance premiums based on how they drive. Analysts found that, “On limited-access roads, the share of driving time spent handling a phone rose by 12% for every 5 mph drivers went over the local speed limit.” Yikes.
This changes safety experts’ understanding of driver behaviors
According to IIHS president David Harkey, “Until now, safety experts believed drivers used their cellphones most at slower speeds, but data from insurance companies’ safe-driving apps show that, in free-flowing traffic, the opposite is true.”
Alarmingly, the relationship between phone usage and speeding is a bigger problem on roadways with higher speed limits. On limited-access roads with 70 mph limits, for example, for every 5 mph a vehicle exceeded the limit there was a 9% larger increase in phone handling than on similar roads with 55 mph limits. The data shows the speeding and phone use trend is significantly less of a concern on arterial roads, where every 5 mph over the speed limit was linked to only a 3% increase in phone usage.
IIHS researchers believe several factors could drive the pattern including external stressors since phone use spikes during rush hour and school drop-off, and the fact that the kind of person who speeds is likely to take more risks, and thus is more likely to use their phone. IIHS also acknowledges the specifications required for this study, which means the data exclusively includes trips that lasted at least 18 minutes with at least two minutes on an interstate highway. Read more about it on the IIHS website.
