Study: Police Reports Miss 96% of Active Phone Use Before Crashes - FuelArc News
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A new Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study compared smartphone telematics with police reports for almost 17,000 crashes in Connecticut, Illinois, Ohio, and Texas. After excluding passive screen activity such as an untouched navigation display, the data still show a huge gap: phones detected active use before crashes far more often than police documented it. […]

A new Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study compared smartphone telematics with police reports for almost 17,000 crashes in Connecticut, Illinois, Ohio, and Texas. After excluding passive screen activity such as an untouched navigation display, the data still show a huge gap: phones detected active use before crashes far more often than police documented it.

  • WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.todayEnglish
    30·
    13 hours ago

    There Are Some Big Caveats

    Phone use before a crash does not automatically make the phone user responsible for the crash.

    The researchers didn’t have fault determinations. Someone could be sitting at a red light on a hands-free call and get rammed by a pickup from behind. Activity 29 seconds before impact also tells us a lot less than somebody actively tapping the screen one second before impact.

    CMT additionally uses machine learning to estimate whether its user was driving or riding as a passenger. That classification has reportedly exceeded 96 percent accuracy, which is impressive, but leaves some room for error.

    So I would not take these numbers and proclaim that 751 crashes were “caused by phones.” The study doesn’t support that. What the study does support, very strongly, is that active phone use immediately before crashes happens a hell of a lot more often than police reports manage to capture.

    • St.Elsewhere@threads.net@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      15·
      13 hours ago

      As someone who has driven both before and after phones became ubiquitous, you are right, there is absolutely some conflation going on here. With that said, people are also absolutely driving more poorly as a result of distractions. The way that people brake and accelerate is exceedingly telling. I wish phones were 100% barred from cars.

      • WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.todayEnglish
        11·
        11 hours ago

        Don’t forget my favorite telltale: the gradual drift into other lanes followed by a sudden jerk back into their own (or suddenly switching quickly to the one they were drifting into as a kind of “I meant to do that” cover move).

        • proudblond@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          5 hours ago

          I’ve definitely witnessed a few people do that swerve, and then do it again a few seconds later because they didn’t put their fucking phone down. Comparing them to drunk drivers is absolutely correct.

        • St.Elsewhere@threads.net@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          4·
          11 hours ago

          My favorite aspect of 2026 is how little time people offer before honking at a green light. Everyone knows that people are fucking around on their phones so it’s rare to see a light left green for more than 2 seconds without a little *bep*

          • WhoIzDisIz@lemmy.todayEnglish
            4·
            11 hours ago

            True, but to be fair a good number of lights seem to be timed ridiculously - presumably to allow cops to hand out more tickets.