Compared to the rest of the nation, how distracted are Arizona drivers?
May 7, 2018, 5:15 AM | Updated: 8:42 am
PHOENIX — More than 60 percent of people use their phones at least once while driving – meaning, as of the last Census count, 69 million drivers use their phone behind the wheel each day, according to Zendrive.
The driving analytics group studied the driving habits of 4.5 million people in the United States to find how much distracted driving occurs.
It found that our of every hour, drivers average 1-minute, 52-seconds on their phone. However, when cutting out the data of people who don’t use their phones while driving, users are on for 3-minutes, 40-seconds of every hour.
This is a 10-second increase from the 2017 study.
Arizona is ranked No. 16 overall, meaning drivers use their phones less than 34 states in the country (and Washington, D.C.).
In Arizona, 6.06 percent of driving time is spent on a phone. This is an increase from last year, when the state was ranked No. 12 overall.
Oregon has the lowest percent on a phone at 5.24 percent, and Mississippi is the highest at 7.97 percent.
Zendrive also compared 22 metropolitan areas. Of those, the Phoenix area – including Mesa and Scottsdale – was right in the middle at No. 11.
Drivers in the Valley average 6.66 percent of driving time on their phone. Seattle was the lowest city observed, at 5.70 percent, and Houston was the highest at 7.84 percent.
The greatest time of phone use in Phoenix occurs between 7 p.m. and 2 a.m.
Additionally, drivers around the nation use their phones in the first five percent of a ride than any other part.
An interesting fact from Zendrive: drivers with iPhones are on their devices way longer and more often than Android users. iPhone users average 2-minutes, 45-seconds per hour on their phone.
Android users average one-minute per hour.
