Phone Use Dropped After Missouri Banned Texting While Driving

It's a small drop — but likely prevented 350 car crashes, a new study finds

By Sarah Fenske

Dec 11, 2023 at 6:00 am

Image: Put down your phones! Texting and driving will soon be illegal in Missouri.

Put down your phones! Texting and driving will soon be illegal in Missouri. Photo by Alexandre Boucher

In August, Missouri followed the lead of 48 other states and finally banned texting while driving. Three months later, a new study shows that the state's new hands-free driving law is already making a measurable difference.

The study is based on data from Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT), which gathers information from smartphones, dashcams and other devices to analyze driver behavior. It found a 2 percent reduction in phone use by Missouri drivers in the month after the law took effect — and, three months later, that's grown to a 4 percent drop.

Now, it's safe to say that's not a huge decrease. Missouri drivers have gone from spending one minute and 45 seconds of every hour behind the wheel handling their phones to one minute and 40 seconds of every hour. But Cambridge Mobile Telematics' analysis suggests even that small drop was enough to prevent 350 crashes, $8.3 million in economic damages and, most importantly, one fatality. That's not nearly enough, but it's not nothing, either.

"The new data shows the new hands-free law is working because more Missourians are now aware of the dangers of distracted driving," said Angela Nelson, vice president of public affairs and government relations at AAA Missouri, in a prepared statement. “We will continue to see the number of auto crashes go down if Missourians remember to do one very simple thing — when you hit the road, just put your phone down and drive."

Indeed, it's worth noting that while Missouri was late to ban texting while driving, the law Governor Mike Parson signed this summer goes much further than that; it bans people from even holding their phones while they're driving, the 28th state to enact a hands-free law.

Also worth noting: While the law went into effect on August 28, we are in a "warning period" until January of 2025. Once law enforcement starts writing tickets, further drops in drivers' phone use are likely to follow.

It's really so interesting you have to check it at every stop light?

A Letter to the St. Louis Driver Glued to His Phone at a Red Light: Your obsessive scrolling is setting off a very bad row of Dominos

Put down your phones! Texting and driving will soon be illegal in Missouri.

Texting While Driving Will Be Illegal in Missouri Starting Next Month: Bluetooth and hands-free talk-to-text will still be allowed

Slideshow

The 21 Types of St. Louis Drivers

The Party People They’re twerking on the roof of the vehicle even while the driver’s going 65 on the highway — and yeah, that’s dangerous as hell, but this is St. Louis. These mean streets are going to get you one way or another. Sometimes people look around and think Why not go die while dancing?

The Guy Who Had No Idea KIAs Were Easy to Steal Back in 2019 Give your sympathy to these poor drivers who are stuck with one of the most easily stolen cars in modern history. No wonder they drive around with an anti-theft device in their front seat and a chip on their shoulder. Worst of all, they still have two years left on their loan.

The Joy FM Enthusiast Yes, this bumper sticker is the No. 1 sign of bad driving in St. Louis. Why? Repeated observation. We don’t make the rules. But get stuck behind a car with a Joy FM bumper sticker and you’ll quickly learn why cars like this are one of St. Louis’ great in-jokes.

The Gravois NASCAR Driver They know they don’t need to go all the way to Daytona to get in on some hot race car action. They just hop in the whip and roll on over to Gravois Avenue where two lanes (and the ability to ignore red lights) is all they need to try to make everyone think they have a big penis. (Spoiler alert: The opposite happens.)

The Golf Cart Bro They're the life of the party, tooling around town in a golf cart that won’t go above 25 mph and tossing back brewskis all the way. The fact is: They're not driving that golf cart by choice. They just can’t get an actual car insured after all those DUIs.

The Suburban Kid Looking to Score They’re driving their Dad’s SUV and are determined to get in and out of the dangerous city so fast, they’re knocking over traffic-calming devices and pedestrians like bowling pins. (They’re also probably high.) Give these drivers plenty of room.

The JeffCo Visitor They’re complaining about crime in the city while driving to a Cardinals game with a gun in the back of their truck. Hey, guess what? That gun is gonna get stolen.

Click to View 21 slides

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About The Author

Sarah Fenske

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