4 ms·
Cell phone use is a small percentage of "distracted driving". We should be careful not to conflate the two things. In 2017, 3,166 fatalities (of 37,133 total)
by tarr11 7y ago
Cell phone use is a small percentage of "distracted driving". We should be careful not to conflate the two things.
In 2017, 3,166 fatalities (of 37,133 total) were attributed to "distracted driving". Of those, 434 fatalities were associated with cell phone use. [0]
For comparison, there were 10,874 fatalities from DUIs in 2017. [1]
[0] https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812700 https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/...
[1] https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/drunk-driving https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/drunk-driving
- throwaway5752 7y agoThe data is from police reports where there was an accident. Do you think that it's underreported, and that people would not volunteer to an officer they were using their cell phones? Your first link talks about this in the Data Limitation section. Also, and they don't note this, but people can be intoxicated and using a mobile device. I suspect their model substantially unreports DUIs where distraction was a factor. It is very easy to do a field test and chalk it up to a DUI and not investigate further. "Honestly, I think the real number of fatalities tied to cell phones is at least three times the federal figure " - https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2017/10/18/467836.htm https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2017/10/18/46...
- whalesalad 7y agoThose stats are kinda messed up. They have a table that separates distracted drivers from cell phone drivers, for example. Are they not the same thing? Also, in an accident where all parties are dead, how do you determine the cause?
- el_don_almighty 7y agohow dare you bring data to a whinge fest! My emotions don't care about your data! Or is it the other way around... facts don't care about your feelings?