Study: Speeding drivers are using their phones more, too

A new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows alarming results: that the drivers who speed more are also more likely to be using their phones while driving. 

“Until now, safety experts believed drivers used their cellphones most at slower speeds,” Carrier Management reported IIHS President David Harkey saying. “But data from insurance companies’ safe-driving apps show that, in free-flowing traffic, the opposite is true.”

The nationwide analysis showed that excluding time stopped, in traffic, or on neighborhood streets, the more drivers exceeded the speed limit, the more they handled their phones — an increase of about 12% for every 5 mph drivers went over the speed limit.

Even more alarming, Carrier Management reports, is that the cell phone handling behavior increased substantially more on roads with higher speed limits. 

The study cites several potential factors influencing the behavior, from correlations in risk-taking behaviors to stress. 

“Speeding and distracted driving together are especially dangerous,” Harkey said. “This research shows the risk is greater than we once thought, but it also points to an opportunity to address both problems at the same time.”

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