IIHS study finds police reports significantly undercount cellphone use in crashes

A study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) reveals that police reports significantly undercount cellphone use in vehicle crashes. By comparing anonymized telematics data from Cambridge Mobile Telematics against nearly 17,000 police-reported crashes in four U.S. states between 2021 and 2024, researchers found a massive discrepancy in data.

Telematics data showed that drivers were using cellphones in the 30 seconds prior to impact in 7% of single-vehicle crashes and 8% of two-vehicle crashes. In contrast, police reports recorded cellphone use in less than 1% of those same incidents, meaning the actual frequency is at least seven times higher than what is officially documented.

IIHS President David Harkey noted that police often fail to capture the role of cellphones because many smartphone functions are difficult for witnesses to observe and drivers are often reluctant to admit to being distracted. The study highlights a critical blind spot in how distracted driving is tracked and recorded by law enforcement.