‘Day Dreaming’ Scores Higher Than ‘Use Of Phone’ As Cause In Distracted Driving Accidents

image: dallasfortworthcaraccidentlawyer.com

Have you read or heard about news or conversations stating that phones are the main cause of distraction for drivers? Well, according to new study, aside from being number two, its score is far behind that of number 1.

Erie Insurance Group examined two years of data from FARS or Fatality Analysis Reporting system. While FARS contains an extensive nationwide record of fatal vehicle collisions, Erie focused on the data on distracted driving. Erie examined and studied the police reports of these accidents in order to find out the specific distractions that caused each one.

Although, cell phones is on the second spot of the most common distractions, its score is way far behind the first spot. In their study of the most distracting activities while driving, it shows that using a cell phone caused only 12% of the distracted drivers accident, while “lost in thought” or “daydreaming” caused 62%.

In defense of this study, Doug Smith of Erie Insurance Group quickly explained that this may be inaccurate especially that the data from FARS are acquired by police officers at crash sites. He is implying that drivers may not have been completely honest during police interview. This means, that there is a chance that cell phones’ percentage on being a cause of distraction for drivers may be higher than FARS’ actual data. via [Bloomberg]