Although many residents consider themselves safe drivers, NBC Connecticut reports that a new study rates drivers from Connecticut at 49 out drivers in all 50 states. Only Rhode Island drivers ranked worse. This data came from EverQuote, which created an app to measure several factors in driving safety, including how often drivers interacted with their smartphones, acceleration, turning and braking.
According to the data, Connecticut drivers exceeded the speed limit on 52 percent of drives, including aggressive acceleration on 20 percent of recorded trips. Sharp turns happened on 14 percent of trips, and hard braking was recorded in 33 percent of drives. Drivers in Connecticut also allowed themselves to be distracted by their phone on 31 percent of trips.
In fact, distracted driving is such a problem in the state that the Hartford Courant reports that lawmakers have been discussing a bill to raise fines for these infractions. If passed, drivers ticketed for distracted driving, including texting and other cell phone use, would have to pay $150 for their first citation, with subsequent fines raising to $300 and $500. All of these fines would cost twice as much if they occurred while the driver was in a work zone. The bill comes on the heels of reports that Pokemon Go and Netflix are in the list of the top ten most popular apps in use by drivers. More than 3,200 deaths across the nation were the result of distracted driving in 2014, and more than 430,000 people were injured in these crashes.
