Distracted driving has become a huge concern for motorists in recent years - particularly given the widespread use of smart phones on the road. Over 30 states have banned texting while driving, but distracted driving accidents are a daily disaster all over the country, including Wisconsin.
According to the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the National Automotive Sampling, concerns about distracted driving are justified given the available data on accident fatalities: Over 5,000 motorists were killed in accidents that involved driver distractions in the United States in 2009. This number accounts for 16 percent of all fatal car crashes that year - which represents a 10 percent increase of distracted driver related fatalities since 2005.
Role of Employers
Given the widespread increase of motorists killed as the result of distracted drivers, it's not surprising that some employers are becoming concerned about the safety of their workers on the road - as well as how distracted driving can affect their bottom line.
ZoomSafer - a company that sells products designed to help employers enforce their worker cell phone policies - recently published a study measuring the concerns of employers regarding the safety and liability issues related to distracted driving. Of the companies surveyed, 62 percent have drafted a policy for employees about using cell phones while driving. The majority of these companies are trucking companies.
Another finding in the study was that 7.6 percent of respondents have been sued because of damages caused by employees using their cell phones while driving.
"The fact that so many companies are telling employees to put the phone down while driving is encouraging from a policy perspective - however, from a practical perspective, it's simply not enough to change behavior," ZoomSafer CEO Matt Howard told Insurance Journal. "To truly change behavior and fully protect themselves from liability, companies must actively measure and enforce employee compliance with cell phone use policies."
Unfortunately, employers are not taking steps to enforce their company policies. According to ZoomSafer's study, only 53 percent of companies that have a distracted driver policy are actively enforcing it - and most of the time, enforcement only occurs after an incident has already taken place. Only 2 percent of companies surveyed are taking measures to manage their employee's compliance to the cell phone policies.
Clearly employers need to do more to combat distracted driving by their employees.
