WA drivers can’t put down their phones, new data shows

Drivers in Washington are much more distracted by cellphones than previously observed, according to data collected for the state’s Traffic Safety Commission.

The analysis of driving behavior showed 25% of all trips made statewide involved some form of cellphone distraction, which included both when a driver picked up a phone and activated the screen, as well as phone calls, hands-free or not.

State law allows hands-free use of cellphones while driving.

Previous roadside observations showed just 9% of trips were made by distracted drivers. That includes not only by cellphones but other activities that took attention away from the road, like eating or playing with the radio.

While the study does not connect the cellphone distractions to crashes, the analysis comes as deaths and injuries are on the rise on Washington’s roads, an increase supercharged during the pandemic.

The report, by Cambridge Mobile Telematics, scoured two months of data gathered from internet-connected devices like smartphones, connected vehicles and dashcams. Nearly 2.6 million hours of driving time were examined across all 39 counties in Washington from June 2022 and June 2023. It looked at 6.1 million trips in June 2023 alone — including nearly 1.8 million in King County.

Staci Hoff, research director for the state’s Traffic Safety Commission, said the analysis provided “insights we’ve never seen before” largely due to the quantity of data collected.

“It’s incredibly comprehensive, incredibly large and objective,” Hoff said. “No human was involved.”

No human, of course, but those behind the wheel, who can act all too fallibly. All risky driving behaviors — cellphone distractions, hard braking and speeding — increased from June 2022 to June 2023.

Cellphone-distracted driving statewide didn’t increase that much year to year, except in some rural counties — Douglas, Grant, Adams and Franklin — in the Palouse and Big Bend regions of Eastern and Central Washington.

But these small counties have fewer drivers than urban centers like Seattle and Spokane, making them more sensitive to “statistical noise,” the report said.

While the proportion of unique drivers in King County collected in this data was 1.7% of the total county population, Hoff said roadside observation gathered data on drivers representing something like .0001% of the population.

The state’s most recent distracted driving observation survey was done last year in only 26 counties at 375 total locations, and human observers collected information for about 40 minutes at each spot, Hoff said.

“The representativeness is just massive,” she said of the Cambridge report. “These sample sizes are just so large.”

The report also found that egregious speeding, when people drive more than 15 mph over the posted speed limit, was more common on roads allowing speeds of 60 mph. On those roads, half of all drivers exceeded the speed limit by 15 mph at least once during a trip.

Speeding was more common in rural Adams and Ferry counties, where the roads have fewer cars and are more free-flowing. But it also happened in the heavily populated Seattle area, where wide freeways are more common.

Hard braking — where a driver applies greater force than normal to the brakes, causing their vehicle to slow by about 10 mph per second — is a leading indicator of crash risk.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, drivers hit the brakes harder on the traffic-clogged streets of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties than in any other. The fewest hard brakes happened in Garfield County, in the southeastern corner of the state, where just 2,300 people live.

Though it should go without saying, most unsafe driving is illegal.

Washington state bans handheld cellphone use while driving, and talking or sending texts can lead to a $124 fine.

However, the state permits hands-free devices, despite research showing that any cellphone use while driving is dangerous. The National Safety Council says hands-free cellphone use causes “inattention blindness,” and can cause motorists to miss up to 50% of what they need to see while driving a car.

Speed limits vary among cities, and many municipalities have lowered speeds to 20 mph in neighborhoods. The variation carries over to penalties for speeding — higher speeds on roads with lower limits lead to big fines — but the Washington State Courts’ Bail Schedule says fines can go from $114 to $432.

Hoff, with the safety commission, called this data gathering the “initial pass” and anticipated working with Cambridge to keep collecting data to better understand how people drive in Washington.

Hoff said the data could have wide implications for law enforcement and road engineering, allowing both to identify the corridors with the most dangerous drivers and design.

Statewide, 810 people were killed in crashes involving a motor vehicle in 2023, a 33-year high, according to the state safety commission. That’s close to double from 2014, when 462 people were killed in traffic.

The pandemic boosted the upward trend in fatalities, according to an analysis done recently by Stacker, which publishes data-based journalism and “sponsored content” advertising.

That analysis, created for the online auto parts store Motointegrator and the data research firm DataPulse, showed 40 of the 50 states had a higher fatality rate in 2023 than before the pandemic.

Washington had a “major reversal” in road safety, the report said. Before the pandemic, Washington was ranked 10th in terms of safe roads. Now, it’s 31st. The 55% jump is the biggest change of any state.

Illinois had the second biggest change, with 27%, but more deaths, with 1,255 compared to Washington’s 810.

Cambridge analyzed data from a program motorists can opt into through their auto insurance companies, which uses the information to help determine policy risk assessment, safety and claims.

Cambridge strips any identifying information from the data, making it anonymous.