Drivers Most Distracted Right When School Gets Out

A study from the company, Zendrive, found that the overwhelming majority of motorists drive distracted between the hours of 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.

1 minute read

September 28, 2017, 2:00 PM PDT

By Casey Brazeal @northandclark


School bus with stop sign

Gerry Dincher / Flickr

After years in decline, the number of traffic fatalities for pedestrians is on the rise. Many observers have pointed to the rise in distracted driving as a prime cause. A new study from Zendrive looked in to how many drivers are looking at their phones near schools and found that 88 percent of motorists were looking at their phones between 4 and 5 p.m.

This data fits with other research that shows this to be a particularly dangerous time for pedestrians. "But the dangerous 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. hour echoes earlier studies that show that, outside of the bar-closing hours of midnight to 4 a.m., the end of the workday is the riskiest to be on the road," Mimi Kirk writes for CityLab.

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