13:43 02-05-2026

IIHS finds drivers reach for the phone more often when they're already speeding

A new study from the IIHS upends the conventional wisdom about smartphones behind the wheel. The long-held assumption was that drivers grab their phone at low speed — in traffic jams, at red lights, or in slow-moving congestion. Data from insurance telematics apps points the other way: in free-flowing traffic, it's the drivers exceeding the speed limit who interact with their phone the most.

IIHS president David Harkey conceded that researchers had been expecting a different picture. According to the institute, on limited-access roads — including freeways — phone use climbs 12% for every additional 5 mph over the posted limit. On ordinary roads the increase is smaller, around 3%, but the correlation is still clear.

The most worrying effect surfaced on the fastest stretches. On roads with a 70 mph limit, every extra 5 mph above the limit pushes drivers toward the phone harder than on 55 mph stretches. Researcher Ian Reagan called that especially troubling: the link between phone use and speeding turns out to be strongest exactly where the cost of a mistake is highest.

The analysis is built on nearly 600,000 trips logged by smartphone telematics systems. These apps capture speed, movement and phone interaction through GPS and onboard sensors. Stops and slow-moving sections were stripped from the dataset to gauge driver behaviour specifically in free-flowing conditions.

The explanations can vary. Some drivers are simply more risk-prone and tend to speed and look at the screen at the same time. Others feel more confident on a straight, uninterrupted road and convince themselves that they can "just check" a message. Stress, rushing and rush-hour trips add to the mix.

For road safety, this is an ugly combination: speeding shortens the window to react, while the phone steals attention at exactly the moment more of it is needed. The IIHS argues that campaigns against speeding and distracted driving can no longer run on separate tracks. In practice, drivers stack both violations on top of each other — and they do it on high-speed roads.