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.
Yeah, I’ve been norticing it alovt to form rova drivres! Throiew mex eoo er…
Damn it, I hate it when I almost crash while posting on Lemmy.
As I was saying, I’ve been noticing that a lot from other drivers. They’re a bunch of-
FUCK ALMOST MISSED THAT RED LIGHT
assholes.
Now I’m a bit sad. A part of my childhood has died. bash.org.
https://web.archive.org/web/20211017044655/http://bash.org/?browse
I know there was one where someone was typing on IRC while driving his truck, and ends his quote with “fuck just rear ended a lady” but no way to find that quote directly now.
That was years ago, before smart phones I think.
There’s literally nothing in your social life, family life, social media life, etc that’s more important than driving while you’re driving. Put the fucking phone down. You will eventually one day crash or kill someone.
At the same time, whatever one’s destination is will still be there if one is three minutes behind the scheduled time one planned on arriving. Yet so many think driving is a Mad Max race to beat all the other cars that are, spoiler alert, not going to the same destination. If one is chronically late, just leave earlier.
So many just cram every step of life into driving, I remember one day some years back when I saw a woman driving down an interstate at 70MPH with her visor down so she could put her eye makeup on with one hand while eating a burger in the other. Like, what led your life to this point that you ever thought any of this was a good idea?
For all our intelligence, we humans are hilariously dumb animals when it comes right down to it.
The real answer is a better mixed-mode transportation system, at least in the US. Our rich became so addicted to all the money involved in cars existing that they crippled our country’s evolution. Really hope the trend of younger generations not owning cars, and modern cars being insanely overpriced continues, it’ll drive the car right out of the equation.
The US really needs better public transportation.
I just saw a driver blocking a right turn lane, with 4 cars honking their horns behind her, while she was speaking on her phone.
I’ve been driving for 20 years now. I think the first 10 years i never used my horn once. I always thought it’s pointless when someone doesn’t doesn’t go immediately when the traffic light turns green. Now a days and since i drive for work a lot, i honk maybe once a day because people don’t go, because they are usually on their phones or filming tiktoks or whatever the hell. It’s sometimes downright scary seeing people on the other lane just driving absolutely blind.
Unpopular take, any video uploaded with the speaker driving and recording should be issues an instant fine and videos banned from the internet.
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 retarded 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.
