MAYFIELD VILLAGE, Ohio ? Much research has been done on the association between cellular telephone use and motor vehicle collisions. According to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, using cellular phones while driving quadruples the risk of a vehicle collision. It's no wonder. According to a new survey by Progressive Insurance, 46 percent of respondents report having swerved into another lane and 41 percent say they sped up while driving alone and talking on their cell phone. And, 11 percent of those who use a cell phone while driving alone report knowing someone who was involved in an accident that resulted from talking on a cellular phone.
Progressive, the insurance company that offers consumers in-depth information about auto insurance, set out to define the typical cell phone user. A survey on progressive.com found that more than 90 percent of survey respondents use the cell phone while driving alone in their vehicles. Fifty (50) percent of them are driving to and from work and 78 percent are talking with friends or families, not coworkers.
In fact, 31 percent of people who use their cell phone while driving alone haven't used their cell phone for a work-related call in the past six months. In addition, 40 percent work outside the home between 41-50 hours a week and report that they wouldn't use a cell phone while driving alone if they had more time to take care of personal business (hence the calls to friends and family).