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Telematics study finds cellphone use in crashes undercounted in police reports

Drivers enrolled in safe-driving apps showed cellphone use in the 30 seconds before impact in 7% of single-vehicle crashes and 8% of two-vehicle crashes, while police reports captured almost none of that activity.

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A new study using telematics data finds cellphone use before crashes is significantly undercounted in police reports, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, using driver-enrolled safe-driving apps.

IIHS researchers analyzed anonymized cellphone data from Cambridge Mobile Telematics and found drivers used their phones in the 30 seconds prior to impact in 7% of single-vehicle crashes and 8% of two-vehicle crashes. The figures include cases where the screen was unlocked for any reason, and IIHS said the risk is greater for more complex smartphone tasks that take a driver’s eyes off the road.

The study linked crash data recorded by safe-driving apps with police-reported crashes in four states between 2021 and 2024, matching events that occurred within the same 15-minute window and within a one-mile radius to build a sample of nearly 17,000 linked crashes.

Based on the linked records, police reports were found to miss most active cellphone behaviors in the lead-up to crashes, while IIHS said drivers tended to tap, swipe, or otherwise manipulate phones before hundreds of crashes, even though police reports noted almost none of this activity. The institute also found that looking away from the road for just two seconds can double the risk of a crash or near-crash event.

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