Distracted driving rising, but so are mitigating technologies

The smartphone technologies available to monitor or prevent distracted driving come in two forms: Ones that collect data and then show the driver (or their insurer) exactly how well or poorly they're driving, and others that can limit the phone to prevent distractions.

Both are growing rapidly, but they are up against increasing incidents of distracted driving. Recently, Travelers issued its annual Risk Index on distracted driving, which surveyed consumers and executives about employees' driving behaviors. It noted smartphone-related distractions that have increased since the pandemic began: 

• Updating or checking social media: +13%.
• Typing a text or email: +10%.
• Talking on a cellphone (hands-free): +10%.
• Using a cellphone to record videos/take photos: +9%.
• Reading a text or email: +9%.

On the other hand, Cambridge Mobile Telematics, which provides programs to reduce claims, has 11 million drivers currently using its technology, which collects data on how users are driving and shares that with their auto insurers, according to Ryan McMahon, senior vice president of strategy and corporate development at the company.

The reach of CMT's technology could be attributed to its affordability and its distribution in app form to smartphones, as McMahon explains. "Our technology works on a $29 phone at Walmart right now. It doesn't require all the change needed to get to a fully instrumented vehicle," he said. "A fully instrumented vehicle is for sure the most concrete, but there's so many drivers that are not buying cars on a yearly basis, so we asked, 'What can we do with technologies available with us now? And how do we make the most from it?'"

As smartphones accelerate demand for short-term rewards, that tendency can actually be used to combat distracted driving, as Kit Delgado, an attending physician and director of the "Nudge Unit," a behavioral design team, at Penn Medicine, explains. For example, instead of a monetary reward of $50 or $100 after six months for reducing phone use while driving, a program could automatically pay participating drivers $7 per week – but that amount is reduced if the driver exceeds certain thresholds of phone use while driving.

"We found the same amount of money had twice the impact by just delivering rewards more frequently," Delgado said. "This tells us that frequent rewards and frequent feedback drives behavior change, especially framing it in terms of a loss, and showing people how much money they're losing from not changing their behavior."

The Nudge Unit team studied drivers in these types of programs and asked those who most reduced their smartphone use, how they did so. These drivers said they either put their phone into "do not disturb" mode, put it on a mount so they would not reach for it, or put it in the glove compartment.

Paired with these programs to reduce smartphone use, telematics can help drivers change their behavior. Being shown data about how much they are distracted, like what Cambridge Mobile Telematics provides, can inspire these changes, according to Johnathon Ehsani, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

"There's an opportunity for the insurance industry to work with states and licensing agencies so drivers opting in to incentive programs can get premium reductions from their insurance," he said. "To the extent to which we can be creative about how we leverage telematics, the future is extremely bright."