Report: Distracted driving laws have a positive impact in states that have them

EverQuote, the insurance provider behind the social safe driving mobile app EverDrive, has recently released its yearly EverDrive Safe Driving Report. While it is true that its latest report still shows that driving while distracted with handsets continues to be prevalent, there is positive impact in states that have already adopted distracted driving laws.

When EverQuote first began making its annual EverDrive Safe Driving Report, it did so in order to shed light on the risks associated with distracted driving, as well as other potentially dangerous behaviors like speeding, hard braking, hard turning, and aggressive acceleration. Last year, drivers who used the EverDrive mobile app logged more than 780 million miles, and EverQuote has since analyzed other bits of data collected through the app

In its latest report, EverQuote shared that on average, drivers in the United States use their mobile devices on 37 percent of all trips. In those trips that involve handset use, the average length of driving time was 29 minutes, and three minutes of that half hour span were spent by drivers engaged with their phones.

Distracted driving continues to claim thousands of lives across the country each and every year. But according to EverQuote, there is hope -- in the five states where drivers had the smallest amount of phone use while driving, four of them (namely Hawaii, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington) have implemented three distracted driving laws: a) a ban on hand held mobile devices, b) a ban on texting while driving, and c) a ban on all mobile device use for novice drivers.

Other findings from the 2018 EverDrive Safe Driving Report include:

• Drivers based in Midwestern states have scored the highest in terms of safe driving

• Drivers based in Northeastern states have scored the lowest in terms of safe driving, and they have done so for two consecutive years already

• Men and women scored similarly in safe driving, although men tend to drive faster (40 percent of driving trips for men versus 38 percent for women), and ladies tend to use their handsets more while driving (42 percent of driving trips for women versus 38 percent for men)

• Drivers who are 18 to 20 years old use their handset on 47 percent of trips; 17 year old drivers on 43 percent of trips; 21 year old drivers and older on 38 percent of trips

• Most common unsafe driving habit is speeding (38 percent of trips), followed very closely by using phones while driving (37 percent of trips)