Skip to main content

‘Risky persona’ phone addicts have the most distraction-caused accidents

Phone addicts lead the list of ‘risky persona’ drivers in Zendrive’s nationwide study of driving behaviors. Aggressive drivers and speed demons are also more likely than most to have accidents, according to the report, but distracted smartphone junkies lead the pack.

Most states have laws against texting, and a growing number forbid handheld phone calls while driving. Despite the laws, distracted driving was cited as the primary cause of accidents that resulted in 3,450 fatalities in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s 2016 Fatal Traffic Crash Data, the latest year reported.

Zendrive’s Driver Personas study employed machine learning methodology to analyze the behavior of 2.3 million anonymized U.S. drivers from December 2016 to February 2017. During that period, the group traveled 5.6 billion miles.

Drivers were grouped in cluster profiles during the first two weeks of the study. Seven factors determined the persona groupings:

  • Trip duration
  • Percent of miles driven on weekends
  • Hard brake and aggressive acceleration events per 100 miles of driving
  • Percent of hours driving at night
  • Percent of miles driven on highways
  • Percent of time speeding
  • Percent of time using the phone.

Measured by their deviance from average behaviors, six driver personas emerged from the study. The relative risk for each driver persona was calculated by dividing the total number of collisions by the number of drivers.

Three groups with the highest risk levels comprised 29 percent of all drivers: Phone Addicts (12 percent), Frustrated Lead-Footers (9 percent), and Speed Demons (8 percent). Phone addicts spent 3.2 times more than average on the phone while driving.

Frustrated Lead-Footers, 9 percent of drivers, had 2.9 times more than average acceleration and deceleration events per 100 miles. Speed demons, 8 percent of the study subject, exceeded legal limits 5.9 times more often than average drivers.

The remaining 79 percent of drivers, considered low risk, were: Neighborhood Navigators, Expert Commuters, and Weekend Cruisers. Defined as people who drive on highways only 0.5 percent of the time, Neighborhood Navigators made up the largest low-risk group, accounting for 29 percent of drivers.

Expert Commuters account for 26 percent of drivers and drive 1.4 times more driving on highways than average. Weekend Cruisers, the final low-risk group make up 18 percent of drivers and drive 1.9 times more on weekends than other drivers.

Do you wonder why your car insurance is so high? Check out the full Zendrive report, for higher and lower risk driver populations of each state. The ten states with the highest concentration of high-risk personas extend from Texas to Florida. The ten states with the lowest proportion of high-risk drivers are scattered across the northern border states, from Maine to Washington state.

Concern about driving and talking safety isn’t new. Almost fourteen years ago Digital Trends reported the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association’s (CTIA) recommended practices for phone use while driving.

Editors' Recommendations

Bruce Brown
Digital Trends Contributing Editor Bruce Brown is a member of the Smart Homes and Commerce teams. Bruce uses smart devices…
The Apple Car was reportedly dubbed ‘the Bread Loaf’
A man checks his phone in an Apple retail store in Grand Central Terminal.

A 2020 prototype of the so-called "Apple Car" was dubbed "the Bread Loaf" for its looks, according to a Bloomberg report on Wednesday.

In a deep dive into the costly project, which Apple canceled last month, the report described the vehicle as “a white minivan with rounded sides, an all-glass roof, sliding doors, and whitewall tires [that] was designed to comfortably seat four people and inspired by the classic flower-power Volkswagen microbus.”

Read more
The Rivian R2 SUV is up for preorder for only $45,000
Rivian R2

You can now get a Rivian without spending more than $70,000. After months of rumors and leaks, Rivian has finally taken the wraps off of the Rivian R2, its newest SUV, and the first to be built on the new Rivian R2 platform. The R2 is built to be Rivian's "Model 3 moment," or its attempt to build a car that's more accessible to the general public and thus could be sold at a much higher volume than the R1S or R1T ever were.

The R2 certainly cuts some corners to achieve the lower price point, but it actually still has a lot going for it -- especially as an electric SUV in this price range. It goes up against the likes of the Tesla Model Y, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Mustang Mach-E, and Kia EV6, but it's much more of an SUV than a crossover-sized car and should appeal to those who want something larger and with Rivian's design sensibility.

Read more
The R3 is Rivian’s surprise electric crossover
Rivian R3

Rivian didn't just announce the R2 platform at its latest launch event -- in a surprise twist, it also announced the R3 crossover. The R3 is Rivian's smallest car yet, offering a size much closer to the likes of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6 than the SUVs that came before it.

Of course, not only is the Rivian R3 smaller, but presumably, it's also cheaper. Rivian didn't reveal actual pricing for the car, but it did say that it would be less than the R2's $45,000 price. Also, it may be some time before we start seeing the R3 on the road -- the car will follow the R2, which isn't set to be available until the first half of 2026.

Read more