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Smartphones behind rise in car crashes among mobile workers

On Behalf of | Sep 24, 2018 | Car Accidents

The vehicle management and reimbursement platform Motus offers various tools that help businesses lower the collision rates among their mobile workers. Still, mobile workers are always connected and thus more prone to drive distracted. Motus has focused on this trend in its 2018 Distracted Driving Report, and its findings should be of interest to all Connecticut road users.

Motus found that the number of mobile workers with smartphones went up from 55 percent in 2013 to 77 percent in 2017. Parallel to this, mobile workers were in 12.3 percent more crashes — from 5.7 million in 2013 to 6.4 million in 2017. This is especially worrying because the mobile workforce continues to grow. Mobile workers also travel 49 percent more than any other type of employee.

Motus calculates that every year, mobile workers drive 1,200 miles in a distracted frame of mind. Though eating, using a GPS and adjusting the audio system are other distracting activities, phone use is the most critical factor. It alone led Americans to drive distracted for a total of 107 billion miles in 2017.

Phone distractions among mobile workers cost employers about $1,680 per driver. Each car crash costs them about $4,400 in legal and medical expenses, property damage, lost income and lost productivity. In 2017, accidents resulted in 1.65 million missed work days among the mobile workforce.

Distracted driving can easily lead to rear-end collisions, hit-and-runs and other incidents. Non-negligent crash victims are often eligible for compensation, but filing the claim against the defendant’s auto insurance company is another matter. Victims will therefore want a lawyer by their side to negotiate for a settlement. Personal injury lawyers usually have a network of professionals who can obtain important proof like phone records and witness reports.

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