Distracted driving is widespread in California and the rest of the U.S., and phones are largely to blame. Root Insurance (an insurer that provides incentives to drivers who avoid phone use) has just shared the results of an online study from Wakefield Research, and what it has to say about distracted driving is eye-opening.
Apparently, ignorance has little to do with the trend. Of the nearly 2,000 U.S. drivers who responded, about half said distracted driving is a top concern for them, and 99 percent said that phones are one of the top three distractions for a driver. Yet the study found that respondents used their phones behind the wheel for an average of 13 minutes every day. Almost two in five said they do not even put their phones down when law enforcement is around.
Moreover, respondents were critical of others who exhibit the same distracted behavior as them. Eighty-nine percent claimed they would give a bad rating to a ride-hailing driver who texted while driving, and 39 percent said they had done so before.
The most common phone-related distractions fell into three categories. Fifty-two percent admitted that group chats were the most distracting, while 33 percent said the same for social media (looking at newsfeeds and even memes) and 18 percent said the same for streaming videos like shows and movie trailers.
Almost everyone knows, then, that distracted driving is a form of negligence. Those who are injured at the hands of a distracted driver may have a case under car accident law. This means filing a claim against the responsible driver’s auto insurance company. Since auto insurance companies have a team of lawyers to fight such claims, victims may want legal representation of their own. If a settlement cannot be reached, the lawyer might prepare the case for court.