Cellphones can track what we say and write, where we go, what we buy and what we search on the internet. But they still aren’t being used to track one of the biggest public health threats: crashes caused by drivers distracted by the phones. Safety experts say that current estimates most likely understate a worsening problem. Car crashes recorded by the police rose 16 percent from 2020 to 2021, to 16,700 a day from 14,400 a day, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or N.H.T.S.A. But those figures do not capture all cellphone distraction; they include only crashes in which a police report specifically mentions such distraction.

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Persons: ”, David Strayer, It’s, Jake Nelson, “ Organizations: National, Traffic Safety Administration, University of Utah, Traffic, Research, AAA, The New York Times, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety