Effectiveness of Reducing Distracted Driving in Michigan

On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a conversation with Ryan McMahon of Cambridge Mobile Telematics, a Massachusetts-based firm that tracks data from drivers, participating voluntarily, to analyze statistics and driver behavior.

McMahon last spoke on the podcast in November, a few months after Michigan Gov. Whitmer signed the law making it illegal to use a hand-held electronic device while driving.

The news was less sanguine then, but now his firm is reporting updated numbers that show meaningful strides in the right direction. 

Some key figures cited:

• In the first month after the Michigan law was signed, distracted driving went down nearly 12 percent.
• The next month, it was 13.5 percent lower.
• The gains then diminished but are headed in a positive direction again.

Podcast image by bobtheskater from Pixabay.