Arity’s 2025 Driving Behavior Report Reveals Surprising Shifts in U.S. Mobility Trends

Arity’s annual report highlights key driving trends, the impact of extreme weather and return-to-office mandates on traffic, and how driving behavior data creates value across industries

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Americans are driving farther, facing more congestion, and reacting in unexpected ways to climate events, according to Arity’s newly released 2025 Driving Behavior Report. Based on anonymized data from over 45 million U.S. connections between 2022 and 2025, the report uncovers how post-pandemic lifestyle changes, return-to-office mandates, and extreme weather are reshaping mobility across the country. These insights offer transportation stakeholders, from insurers to city planners, actionable intelligence to improve safety, efficiency, and responsiveness in a rapidly evolving landscape.

“Driving behavior is a reflection of human behavior broadly,” said Gary Hallgren, President of Arity. “When we look at how long people drive, how often they’re distracted, or how they react during emergencies, we’re uncovering more than traffic patterns – we’re seeing how communities live and adapt. These insights empower industries to design safer experiences, smarter products, and more responsive services for the people they serve.”

Key findings highlighted in Arity’s report include:

• Commutes are longer. Trip distances and durations reached their highest levels in early 2025, with local connector roads carrying the majority of U.S. traffic – possibly putting strain on roadway infrastructure.
• Return-to-office is reshaping rush hour. Nationally, morning rush hours are intensifying, while afternoon traffic times have become more flexible.
• Climate events reveal surprising evacuation behavior. During Hurricane Helene in Florida, many residents stayed put despite official evacuation orders, while in Los Angeles, the Palisades Fire triggered surges in trip volume, hard braking, and phone distraction as residents fled.
• Distracted driving is trending downward – but spikes during holidays. After peaking in late 2023, distracted driving rates returned closer to 2022 levels in 2024 and early 2025, though summer holidays continue to show higher levels. Among the highest-risk drivers, phone use occurs once every five to six miles.
• Traffic congestion shows up in sudden acceleration. Sudden acceleration increased in 2025, pointing to rising local traffic congestion, especially during school months when stop-and-go driving is more common.

The value of driving behavior insights across the transportation ecosystem

As these trends take shape, Arity’s driving behavior data equips industries and businesses with insights they can act on, such as:

• Insurance: Build fairer pricing models, apply more precise risk scoring, and better anticipate claims.
• Transportation planning: Use driving behavior data insights to manage congestion, prioritize infrastructure investments, and improve road safety.
• Retail and Marketing & Advertising: Leverage trip patterns to reach consumers at the right time and place, supporting more timely and relevant engagement.
• Public sector: Apply evacuation and disruption data to strengthen crisis planning and emergency response.

“As mobility continues to evolve, the real opportunity is putting insights into action,” added Hallgren. “These insights within the report give organizations across industries a roadmap to leverage driving behavior data – helping them anticipate risk, personalize services, and strengthen safety in our transportation ecosystem. By applying these findings, companies and agencies can better meet the needs of the people they serve, while also creating lasting benefits for them.”

The full Arity Annual Driving Behavior Report is available here.

About Arity

Arity is a mobility data and analytics company that provides data-driven solutions to companies invested in transportation, enabling them to deliver mobility services that are smarter, safer, and more economical. Arity collects and analyzes trillions of miles of driving data to create a greater understanding of how people move. With the world’s largest driving dataset tied to insurance claims collected through mobile devices, in-car devices, and vehicles themselves, Arity derives unique insights that help insurers, developers, marketers, and communities understand and predict driving behavior at scale.

Arity believes collecting and using data responsibly and transparently will create better experiences on and off the road for people, communities, and businesses. We do not take the sensitivity of the data lightly, and because of that, privacy is at the cornerstone of how our company functions. arity.com/privacy-center