BLOG

Tuesday, April 21, 2020 By Jasmin Sharp

96% of people agree that using your phone while driving is unacceptable. However, 1.35 million people die in road incidents worldwide every year – that’s 3,700 deaths a day. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, distracted driving is the leading cause of traffic accidents, accounting for 25–50% of all car crashes. Up to 85% of phone users — 500,000 individuals — talk on their phones while driving. With road incidents being the eighth leading cause of death globally, why have we not solved this problem yet?

One of the main reasons distracted driving is a huge issue is how distracting smartphones have become in recent years. The fear of missing out has gotten extremely worse in the last several years as more of peoples’ lives have become attached to their smartphones. A Harvard study found that social media gives the same pleasure as food, money, and sex, and when all of that is compressed into a device that can be carried with someone at all times, it can be extremely distracting. That’s why legislation prohibiting texting while driving or adhering to a pledge to not drive distracted isn’t always effective. Based on AT&T’s research, its “It Can Wait” campaign has produced hundreds of millions of social impressions and actions over the past two years, but no tangible results.

In order to actually solve the issue of distracted driving, the attention needs to shift from enforcement to prevention. Enforcing distracted driving legislation presumes the problem will inevitably happen. However, if the focus shifts to preventing distractions from happening in the first place, lives and money will be saved. The best way to promote preventative action against distracted driving is to utilize proactive technology. This type of technology is vital to mitigate distracted driving before it occurs, by removing distractions and minimizing the chance of a driver getting distracted on the road. 

NOCELL is the best fleet solution to proactively remove device distractions on the road. Instead of relying on a driver’s own impulse to not pick up their phone while driving, it allows fleet managers to remove distractions while driving. Schedule a free demo with NOCELL here.