Telematics service provider Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) has released its annual report on distracted driving and road safety, “The State of US Road Risk in 2024,” that says distracted driving fell by 4.5 percent in 2023, the first decrease since 2020.
The report evaluates the various factors that can reduce distracted driving, including consent-driven usage-based insurance (UBI) programs, hands-free legislation, and increased media coverage of the dangers of distracted driving. The company estimates this reduction in distracted driving helped prevent more than 55,000 crashes, 31,000 injuries, 250 fatalities, and close to $2.2 billion in economic damages.
“While it’s great to see that distracted driving declined in 2023 after years of trending upward, every second that drivers use their phone behind the wheel puts all road users at risk,” said Matt Fiorentino, CMT’s vice president of marketing, in a statement. “From consent-based UBI programs to hands-free laws, this decline shows that we have the tools to fight distracted driving.”
It seems as if U.S. drivers are 187 percent more distracted than those in the United Kingdom, CMT says. “In 2023, US drivers spent 2 minutes and 6 seconds interacting with their phones each hour they drove. While this marks a six-second decrease from 2022, this figure is still 17 percent higher than it was in 2020,” according to the report.
CMT also found that drivers were distracted in the minute before a crash in 34 percent of crashes.
CMT’s report, The State of US Road Risk in 2024, is available now and can be downloaded here.
 has released its annual report on distracted driving and road safety, “The State of US Road Risk in 2024,” that says distracted driving fell by 4.5 percent in 2023, the first decrease since 2020.){kind=link}