NY State Cell Phone Use/Texting-Related Accidents Surge 86 Percent
But Drunk Driving Arrests at Lowest Level Since 2009
Nov 04, 2019, 00:01 ET
NEW YORK, Nov. 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- New York state accidents related to cell phone use and/or texting has skyrocketed 86 percent since 2009 -- based on comprehensive, county-by-county analyses by TrafficTickets.com of the latest available DMV data.
However, 2018 marked the first year that texting-while-driving tickets were flat since the act was deemed a traffic offense in 2009.
Drunk driving arrests in New York state in 2018, meanwhile, dropped to the lowest rate in 10 years, and police reported 4.4 percent fewer serious accidents in which drugs or alcohol were a factor.
Drunk Driving Arrests in NY State Hits Lowest Level in 10 years
In 2018 police issued the fewest number of drunk driving citations in the past 10 years. Police also reported 4.4 percent fewer serious accidents in which drugs or alcohol were a factor in 2018. Last year, state and local police (excluding those of the NYPD) wrote 65,125 tickets for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. This is five percent fewer impaired driving tickets than in 2017 (68,471) and 28 percent fewer than in 2009.
The number of drug- or alcohol-related crashes involving injuries declined from 4,861 in 2017 to 4,647 in 2018. This represents a 17 percent drop in serious impaired driving crashes from 2009, the earliest data available.
Accidents Related to Cell Phone Use/Texting Surge 86 Percent
In 2009, there were 650 accidents in which a driver was using a cell phone or texting while driving. By 2018, that figure leaped by 86 percent to 1,212; 924 were for cell phone-related crashes alone. Despite this dramatic increase, the rate of injury and death in such crashes has remained roughly the same at about 50 percent. Moreover, after years of cell phone and texting tickets increasing dramatically year over year, 2018 marked the first time that the total number of both citations declined.
In 2018, younger drivers got 11 percent of speeding tickets, yet just 3.9 percent of texting tickets.
Detailed Analyses of Latest DMV Data
For this new report, TrafficTickets.com conducted detailed analyses of the latest DMV data to find trends and uncover facts regarding drivers, traffic tickets and police activity statewide.
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SOURCE TrafficTickets.com
