New Study Unveils Nation’s Distracted Driving Behaviors; Atlanta Drivers are Most Distracted, San Diego Least

New Study from Life360 Finds Distracted Driving During Rush Hour Commute is Worse than Morning Commute; Teens, Adults Nearly Equal As Distracted Drivers

New Study Unveils Nation’s Distracted Driving Behaviors (Graphic: Business Wire)

SAN FRANCISCO--()--Life360, the leading location sharing app that protects and connects families, today released its annual comprehensive U.S. distracted driving study in time for national Distracted Driving Awareness month, highlighting the driving behaviors of the nation’s distracted drivers. Leveraging more than 84 billion miles of driving data in a national sample of Life360 users across the country, the analysis revealed that distracted driving is more prevalent in the East - with Atlanta topping the list. The study also found rush hour driving is more distracting than morning commutes. And for the second year in a row, there’s very little gap between teen and adult distracted drivers.

Overall, the West Coast had the least distracted driving. At the state level the report found New Jersey and Florida drivers are the most distracted and Wyoming and New Mexico drivers the least. The Top 5 cities with the most/least distracted driving:

Most Distracted:

  • Atlanta, GA
  • Washington, DC
  • Baltimore, MD
  • Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
  • Houston, TX

Least Distracted:

  • San Diego, CA
  • San Francisco, CA
  • Seattle, WA
  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Phoenix, AZ

Life360’s 2019 Distracted Driving Report is the largest study on distracted driving to date. More than 27 billion distracted drives were analyzed (based on significant interactions with a phone's screen while driving a vehicle), pooled from a national sample of 844,000 Life360 users over the 2018 calendar year.

Interestingly, the study found that Los Angeles and San Francisco residents exercise considerable caution when driving in the rain. Los Angeles drivers slow down 6 times more in heavy rain compared to drivers from Seattle, who are both accustomed to rain and unfazed by it. In San Francisco, drivers slow down 4 times more in heavy rain compared to those in Seattle.

The report found that distracted drivers are 21 times more likely to speed, 12 times more likely to rapidly accelerate and seven times more likely to hard brake. In other revealing trends:

  • Drivers on their morning commute (6am - 8am) are less prone to distracted driving than they are during the afternoon, when they are twice as likely to use their phones.
  • Most speeding occurs Sunday afternoons (3pm - 6pm).
  • The worst time for bad driving behaviors, including hard braking and rapid acceleration, occurs in the middle of the night (between 3am - 4am) on Saturdays and Sundays.
  • Teens and parents are almost equal when it comes to distracted driving phone use. Distracted teen drivers interact with their smartphones 9 times in 100 miles. For adults, it’s 8 times in 100 miles.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that at least 3,166 people were killed in distracted driving crashes in 2017, including texting and driving. Considering virtually all teens (95 percent according to PEW Research Center) have a smartphone, distracted driving is a very serious risk.

Life360 offers a Driver Protect plan that provides weekly distracted driving reports to empower families with information to become safer drivers. The weekly reports highlight various driving habits including speed, texting and driving, hard braking and rapid acceleration.

Even as awareness rises about hazardous distracted driving habits, accidents still happen. Life360’s Driver Protect plan also provides car crash detection and emergency response dispatch, in addition to notifying family contacts in real-time. For instance, Life360 user Karena was driving to lunch with her son, when they were rear-ended by a driver who was texting and driving -- pushing her car into a curb, and forcing a rollover and slide. With the two trapped inside and Karena unable to reach her phone – Life360 immediately sensed the crash, called 911 and alerted her husband with directions to their exact location. Now a year later, Karena’s whole family uses Life360 daily to stay safe and connected.

For full details on crash detection, visit the Life360 FAQs: www.life360.com/support. To learn more or sign up for Driver Protect in the U.S. ($7.99 a month), simply open the Premium menu in the Life360 App (available on iTunes or Google Play).

About Life360

Life360 is the world’s leading location and driving safety service for families available for Android and iPhone in a convenient and secure mobile app. A leader in family tech, Life360 gives families peace of mind when they are not together. As the largest source of family driving data in the world, Life360 provides safety insights around driving behavior to better protect family members on the go via location sharing, day-to-day communications, driver updates, emergency response features, and more. Founded in 2008, Life360 has raised over $100M in venture capital and is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.life360.com.

Contacts

Forrest Cronin
Access for Life360
ForrestC@accesstheagency.com

Contacts

Forrest Cronin
Access for Life360
ForrestC@accesstheagency.com