The Zen Drive 2018 distracted driving snapshot study looks into behaviors of distracted driving and their prevalence across the country. Researchers have long said that distracted driving is a leading cause of vehicle accidents and deaths, and by some measures, the problem appears to be more of an epidemic than drunk driving.

A firm looking specifically at driver behavior, Zen Drive, anticipates that the problem is actually a hundred times worse than experts had previously believed. Zen Drive found that 69 million drivers rely on using their phones while operating a car every single day and up to 60% of drivers use their phones at least once during the day. This means that, on average, in any given hour, up to 40% of drivers are using their phone.

More than 100 billion hours of logged driving data were analyzed to come up with this result. Earlier estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration illustrated that 660,000 drivers used phones that could distract them over the course of daylight hours. However, the problem may be much worse than that. Accidents and deaths associated with distracted driving can be expected to rise in the coming years in the event that these numbers are truly as pictured.

Accidents are a leading cause of critical injuries and avoidable fatalities every single year. If you or someone you know has already been seriously hurt in such an accident, you need to consult with an experienced attorney.