Mobile phones can track what we say and write, where we go, what we buy and what we search online. But they’re still not being used to track one of the biggest threats to public health: accidents caused by drivers distracted by their phones.
More than a decade after federal and state governments realized the dangers of cell phone use while driving and began passing laws to stop it, there is no definitive database of the number of accidents or deaths caused by distraction of mobile phone attention. Security experts say current estimates likely underestimate a worsening problem.
The absence of clear data comes as conflicts increase. Police-recorded traffic accidents rose 16 percent from 2020 to 2021, to 16,700 a day from 14,400 a day, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In 2021, nearly 43,000 Americans died in crashes, a 16-year high.
In 2021, only 377 fatal crashes — just under 1 percent — were reported to involve a driver distracted by a cell phone, according to the traffic service. About 8 percent of the 2.5 million nonfatal crashes that year involved a cell phone, according to highway agency data.
But these figures don’t capture all of mobile distraction. include only accidents in which a police report specifically mentions such distraction. Often, safety experts said, cell phone use goes unreported in such reports because it usually relies on a driver to admit to being distracted, a witness to identify it or, in even rarer cases, the use of records cell phone or other phone forensics that conclusively shows distraction.
Police can access cell phone records, but the process is onerous and privacy laws require a subpoena. Even then, further analysis must be done to link a driver’s phone activity to the timing of an accident.
“This analysis is expensive, and unless the police really believe there’s a criminal case, they don’t do it,” said David Strayer, a cognitive scientist at the University of Utah and an expert on the science of driver distraction. He added that “unless someone admits to using the phone, the police don’t consider it a factor.”
Safety experts said the current data was essentially unscientific and inaccurate.
“It’s almost certainly an understatement because people don’t like to admit things like that,” said Jake Nelson, director of Traffic Safety Advocacy & Research for AAA. “It’s very disappointing to me that we don’t have access to better data, especially now that we’re at a 16-year high,” he added, referring to road fatalities.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration admitted there was significant underreporting of distraction when it came to crashes. In a statement provided to The New York Times, the agency said it is “actively engaged in studies to examine the ability to measure the prevalence of road distraction.”
Drivers may not admit distractions to the police, but they do admit their behavior to anonymous inquiries. In a 2022 nationally representative survey, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that about 20 percent of drivers said they regularly scrolled through social media, read email, played games, watched videos, or recorded and uploaded them while driving.
