Added on April 16, 2019  The News Wheel
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These Cities Have the Most Distracted Drivers

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Male distracted driver on cell phone study dangerous driving

According to a study by Zendrive, a company that tracks bad driving behaviors, distracted driving is 100 times worse than previously estimated — and some cities have more dangerous drivers than others. While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 660,000 drivers use their phones during daylight hours. But after tracking 4.5 million drivers over more than 100 billion miles and analyzing their driving behavior, Zendrive found the actual number to be closer to 69 million. Some cities and states have more distracted drivers than others — here’s a look at the statistics.

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Cities and states by the numbers

Ranked from most to least distracted, we see that Houston and Dallas have some of the most distracted drivers in the country.

  • Houston (9.44%)
  • Dallas/Fort Worth/Arlington, TX (9.23%)
  • Detroit (8.85%)
  • Denver/Aurora, CO (8.43%)
  • San Diego (8.37%)
  • Miami (8.32%)
  • Boston (8.22%)
  • San Jose (8.19%)
  • Philadelphia/NJ/DE/MD (8.12%)
  • Austin, TX (7.97%)
  • Los Angeles/Long Beach/Anaheim, CA (7.86%)
  • San Francisco/Oakland, CA (7.82%)
  • Washington, DC/VA/MD (7.8%)
  • Chicago, IL/IN (7.79%)
  • Pittsburgh (7.6%)
  • Atlanta (7.31%)
  • New York/Newark, NY/NJ/CT (7.28%)
  • Portland, OR/WA (7.25%)
  • Seattle (7.13%)

While several of Texas’ cities ranked high for distracted drivers, Mississippi, Rhode Island, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Connecticut rounded out the top five states with the most distracted drivers, overall. North Dakota, Wyoming, Washington, Montana, and Oregon had the lowest percentage of distracted drivers.

Some sad statistics

Pedestrian fatalities are at a 30-year high — and according to Zendrive, distracted driving is to blame. Worse yet, a lot of distracted drivers think their behavior is perfectly safe. For instance, although 90 percent of drivers surveyed considered themselves to be “safe drivers,” nearly half spent 10 percent of their driving time on the phone. Some safety experts claim that this makes distracted driving just as dangerous as drunk driving. Further, the most distracted driving takes place between 7:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. — making it a danger to anyone using the road at those hours, including cyclists, pedestrians, motorcyclists, school buses, and of course, other passenger-car drivers.

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Don’t let yourself — or your loved ones — become a statistic. Know what constitutes distracted driving, and use Do Not Disturb mode to keep your phone quiet when you’re on the road.

Source: Zendrive