It comes as no surprise that drivers today are distracted by cell phones. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, states have considered legislation to address this issue since 2000.
Today, 29 states have hands-free laws that make it illegal for drivers to use their phones while behind the wheel. The most recent states to enact hands-free laws are Michigan, Ohio, Alabama, and Missouri. New research shows how these laws—established in 2023—are making a difference.
How has Michigan’s new hands-free law made roads safer?
A recent study conducted by Cambridge Mobile Telematics examined the impact Michigan’s hands-free law had on road safety in its first year of implementation. According to CMT, Michigan has reduced distracted driving by 12.8% in the year since the law took effect. CMT estimates that reducing phone use while driving has prevented 5,500 crashes, 3,000 injuries, 25 fatalities, and $218 million in economic damages. Similar improvements were recorded for Ohio, Alabama, and Missouri.
According to CMT, in the month before the law took effect in Michigan, drivers used their phones for 1 minute and 48 seconds per hour of driving. The month after, distraction fell to 1 minute and 36 seconds, a 12-second drop. Since then, the average distraction time per hour has been 1 minute and 35 seconds, with even lower rates in the last three months. For every 10% drop in distracted driving, CMT estimates that the driving fatality rate falls by 1.5%.
“Hands-free laws have proven to be the most effective tool states have to reduce distracted driving,” Ryan McMahon, SVP of strategy for CMT, said. “As we’ve measured the performance of hands-free laws in Michigan, Ohio, Alabama, and Missouri in the last year, every state has seen distracted driving fall, reducing crashes, injuries, and fatalities.”
See also: Survey: Less than 1 in 20 American adults understand truck blind spots
What distracted driving results mean for truck drivers
While the results of this study don’t focus on whether truck drivers themselves are distracted while driving, the results highlight a less distracted public with which truck drivers share the road, McMahon told FleetOwner.
“For a truck driver, the more distraction that's around them, the higher the hazard is for them,” McMahon said. “And it's much worse for drivers of large vehicles because the vehicles don't have the same responsiveness that other vehicles do. If somebody drifts into the lane and they [truck drivers] need to make an emergency braking activity, that could have disastrous consequences. So, the consequences for truck drivers are much worse for people around them, and they take the brunt of it. Anytime a truck is involved in a crash, it becomes a much more serious issue than just any normal crash.”
For truck drivers dealing with distracted drivers on the road, McMahon has the following advice:
“Don't assume that you're seen by other drivers,” McMahon said. “I think that the reality is that in 34% of all the crashes that we detect, a driver's phone has been in their hand a minute prior to the crash. I think that the tools that you learned when you're first starting to drive—defensive driving—could not be more true now than ever before.”
