After monitoring intersections around the state last year, researchers estimated 9.2 percent of all drivers spotted were somehow distracted, and most of them were fiddling with their phones. Clark County fared slightly better: 7.4 percent of observed drivers were not paying attention.
Throughout one day in May, teams of survey-takers with the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission went to a proportional selection of intersections, out of 300, in each county and recorded what they saw. They recorded the behavior of more than 22,300 drivers.
Researchers with the commission chose their intersections randomly, from the 23 counties in the state with 50 or more (there are 6,279 intersections in the state’s incorporated areas). Many things can distract a driver, but the researchers were watching for cellphone use, specifically.
Most of the distracted drivers the monitors saw, 5.6 percent of them, were holding a cellphone. Another 1.3 percent were holding one to their ear, according to the study.
The survey methods were based on seat belt-use monitoring surveys the commission has conducted for years, said Angie Ward, program manager at the commission.
“We’re pretty confident, and one of the things that’s interesting is that it matches up with other studies that have been done,” said Ward, referring to smaller-scale research from Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. “We’re pretty confident that 9 percent is strong, but we’ll see in two years, when we do it again.”
Where the monitors spotted drivers not paying attention, they were usually stopped: 14.2 percent of distracted drivers recorded in the survey were stopped at the intersection. Another 9.7 percent were moving, and 7.7 percent were slowing down or accelerating from a stop.
The monitors also tracked where they saw distraction by type of intersection. Most instances of distraction, 9.8 percent of them, were at stop lights.
According to the Washington State Department of Transportation, distraction of some kind led to more than 12,300 crashes last year statewide, killing someone in 79 of those crashes.
Cellphone use was connected to 773 of those crashes, and five of them were fatal. There were 46 cellphone-related crashes last year in Clark County.
The traffic commission report’s authors listed a few caveats with the study.
First, because of changes to crash-recording practices over the past few years, there isn’t yet a quality pool of data for comparison.
Also, it’s likely distracted-driving crashes are under-reported, since there’s often inadequate probable cause to justify searching a phone’s records following a crash.
Ward said it wouldn’t be clear how useful the data is at the county level without more surveys. Douglas, Kitsap, Kittitas and Pierce counties were all outliers, with distracted driving reports near 20 percent, although it wasn’t clear why.
A new bill making its way through the Legislature would double the penalty for second and third instances of distracted driving, which is currently $124.
The proposed law would also expand distracted-driving laws by replacing the prohibition against using cellphones on the road with using any hand-held device. Exceptions to the rule will still include voice-operated GPS systems, CB radios or emergencies, for instance.
The House Transportation Committee voted Wednesday to advance the bill, which now heads the House Rules Committee.
State Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, co-sponsored a complementary bill in the state Senate.
“This is about saving lives,” said Rep. Jessyn Farrell, D-Seattle, one of the House bill’s co-sponsors, in a news release from Democrats in the House. “It’s pretty hard to argue that checking Facebook while driving is perfectly safe, and yet right now it’s basically legal. With this bill, we’re strengthening the law and giving it some teeth so people will put down their devices and focus on their driving.”
