Study of California drivers shows many distracted near schools

Sacramento, CA – Drivers in California have “significant room for improvement” when it comes to focusing on the task of driving near schools, according to The Allstate Foundation.

For the Allstate Foundation’s third annual “Roadwatch” observation study, the California Friday Night Live Partnership sent student volunteers to about 70 intersections near high schools in the state to observe drivers for one hour. Among the findings:

• More than 7,000 acts of distracted driving were recorded across all sites – an hourly average of about 100 incidents per intersection. The previous two Roadwatch studies recorded similar results.
• The most prevalent distracted driving behavior was using a cell phone for any purpose in at least one hand while driving, with a total of 2,139 reported cases and a site average of about 31 instances per hour.
• Other distracted driving behaviors observed across all sites included eating or drinking (about 30 instances per hour), personal grooming (about 12 instances per hour), and smoking – about six instances per hour.

The Allstate Foundation, which funded the study, is the charity arm of The Allstate Corp.