Distracted driving crashes in Michigan continue to drop, but at a significantly lower rate than when the recent hands-free law was first passed over the summer.
On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Ryan McMahon with Cambridge Mobile Telematics examined the latest trends in crash numbers. He said crashes involving distracted driving tend to be at a higher rate of speed.
“In 34% of crashes, the driver’s holding a phone in their hand a minute prior to the crash occurring,” McMahon said. “When those crashes occur with the driver holding their phone in their hand, distracted driving crashes, those crashes happen at a speed that’s 40% higher. The moment of impact is 40% higher than in crashes without distracted driving.”
New data released by Cambridge Mobile shows Michigan with a 36% reduction in distracted driving around the time the new hands-free law took effect. However, some of those gains have since been erased.
