Drivers were on phones moments before quarter of all crashes
Roughly one in four US drivers were using their mobile phones one minute prior to a crash, according to a study by Cambridge Mobile Telematics. The study also discovered that distracted driving was a factor in 52% of journeys that resulted in a collision. Traffic fatalities in the US have increased 14% in the past two years, with low gas prices and an improved economy resulting in more cars on the road, according to the National Safety Council.
Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune.

Almost one in four drivers were using a phone within a minute before a crash, which could include the moment the collision occurred, according to a study by a technology company that monitors driving habits.

The study released on Monday by Cambridge Mobile Telematics, which makes driving applications for car insurance companies, also found that distracted driving occurred during 52 percent of trips that ended in a crash. In Chicago, the worst spots for distracted driving were at the drop-off areas at O'Hare and Midway airports; along Solidarity Drive between the Field Museum and the Adler Planetarium; Lake Shore Drive and Grand Avenue; and King Drive and the Stevenson Expressway, the study said.

Advertisement

"This is a big problem for drivers and bikes and pedestrians," said Hari Balakrishnan, chief technology officer for Massachusetts-based Cambridge Mobile. "It's a fairly dominant factor in determining whether you have a crash."

Traffic fatalities have risen by 14 percent over the last two years, and distracted driving is a likely factor along with the improved economy and low gas prices, which have put more cars on the road, according to the National Safety Council, a nonprofit public service group. The nonprofit Governors Highway Safety Association has projected an 11 percent increase in the number of pedestrians killed in 2016 compared with 2015, and also cited smartphone distraction.

Advertisement

The driver of a pickup truck that collided with a church minibus in rural Texas last week, killing 13 people, apologized after the crash and acknowledged that he had been texting while driving, a witness told the Associate Press.

The Cambridge study, which looked at more than 100,000 drivers over 18 months, highlights the prevalence of phone use before collisions, and shows that cellphone bans help some, but not much.

The study found that in states like Illinois with laws against driving while using hand-held devices, the average time drivers spent on the phone was 3.17 minutes per 100 miles, compared with 3.82 minutes in states with no laws against hand held use.

"I think the real problem is enforcement," Balakrishnan said. "It's really hard to enforce these laws."

Illinois State Police Trooper David Roman said it is not tough for police to spot someone using a phone — it's usually pretty blatant. The problem is that for every phone-wielding driver who gets stopped, there are 10 who get missed, Roman said.

"There's not enough of us," said Roman, of District 15, which patrols the tollways.

Since Illinois' ban on using hand-held devices while driving took effect in 2014, state police have issued just over 31,000 tickets for the offense, according to Master Sgt. Mike Link. The tickets start at $75 and go as high as $150 for a repeat offender.

"It's really hard for people to put the phone down when you can do so many things with your phone," Roman said.

Advertisement

Cambridge, founded in 2010, makes an application called DriveWell that is sold as part of an overall safe-driving program to major insurance companies. The app is rebranded for insurance customers. The application is a form of telematics, which uses the phone's accelerometer, GPS and gyroscope to measure speed, hard braking and phone use.

"If you're driving over 9 miles an hour and moving your phone around, that counts as distracted driving," said Cambridge spokesman John Costello. He noted that the numbers were "fairly conservative" since the app does not count it as distracted driving if someone is using a phone mounted on a dashboard, or while at a stoplight.

The study also found that on drives that involve a crash, the average duration of distraction was 135 seconds, or just over two minutes.

The top 10 percent of distracted drivers were 2.3 times more likely to be in a crash than the average driver.

Balakrishnan said telematics apps can provide people with incentives to improve their driving. The apps provide feedback to drivers after a trip about what they did wrong and how they can improve, Balakrishnan said.

"Safe drivers are made, not born," he said. Cellphone use while driving was reduced by an average of 35 percent after 30 days of using the DriveWell app, the company said.

Advertisement

Insurance companies that use safe-driving applications often provide financial incentives for drivers to get their scores up. Free apps like Highway Hero offer contests, which can include cash prizes, Balakrishnan said.

For example, Boston used an app to conduct a safe-driving contest last fall, with $4,500 in prizes, as part of its "Vision Zero" initiative to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries, according to the city's website.

Chicago is working on its own "Vision Zero" plan.

mwisniewski@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @marywizchicago