Risky Phone Behavior Behind the Wheel Historically Soars on Mother’s Day

Phone distractions jump 22% between 7 and 9 a.m. on the holiday, telematics company finds.

Evelyn Pimplaskar
Evelyn PimplaskarEditor-in-Chief, Director of Content
  • 10+ years in insurance and personal finance content

  • 30+ years in media, PR, and content creation

Evelyn leads Insurify’s content team. She’s passionate about creating empowering content to help people transform their financial lives and make sound insurance-buying decisions.

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Chris Schafer
Edited byChris Schafer
Chris Schafer
Chris SchaferDeputy Managing Editor, News and Marketing Content
  • 15+ years in content creation

  • 7+ years in business and financial services content

Chris is a seasoned writer/editor with past experience across myriad industries, including insurance, SAS, finance, Medicare, logistics, marketing/advertising, and many more.

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John Leach
Reviewed byJohn Leach
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John LeachSenior Insurance Copy Editor
  • Licensed property and casualty insurance agent

  • 8+ years editing experience

  • NPN: 20461358

John leads Insurify’s copy desk, helping ensure the accuracy and readability of Insurify’s content. He’s a licensed agent specializing in home and car insurance topics.

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Drivers make more handheld phone calls and interact with their phones significantly more on Mother’s Day than on other Sundays in the year, according to a new study by Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT). CMT, which provides telematics services to 21 of the largest U.S. auto insurers, found that handheld phone calls increase 6.6% on Mother’s Day.

Screen interaction also increases by 12.5%.

Nearly a third of accidents on the road occur within a minute of a driver interacting with their phone, CMT says. And those that occur within 10 seconds of a handheld call happen at 31% higher speeds than crashes in which drivers weren’t on the phone.

When drivers are calling Mom

Calling on handheld devices, rather than through a vehicle’s audio system, soars by 22% between 7 and 9 a.m. on Mother’s Day, CMT found. That stays high, at 13.4% higher, through 2 p.m. and peaks around 8 p.m., according to CMT data.

Perhaps caught up in making brunch plans, drivers start interacting with their phones more as early as 6 a.m. on Mother’s Day. The biggest increase in distraction levels compared to other Sundays occurs between 9 a.m. and noon.

Throughout the afternoon, distraction levels decline steadily until returning to normal around 8 p.m.

What’s next: The costs of distracted driving

In 2023, 3,275 people died and approximately 324,819 were hurt in traffic accidents related to distracted driving, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.

Distracted driving was also a factor in 8% of all fatal crashes and in 13% of all crashes that year, according to the NHTSA.

The NHTSA defines distracted driving as “anything that takes your attention away from the task of safe driving.”

Distracted driving can increase car insurance premiums, especially if your distraction causes an accident. Insurance rates are, on average, 45% higher for drivers with at-fault accidents on their records, Insurify reports.

Evelyn Pimplaskar
Evelyn PimplaskarEditor-in-Chief, Director of Content

Evelyn Pimplaskar is Insurify’s director of content. With 30-plus years in content creation – including 10 years specializing in personal finance – Evelyn’s done everything from covering volatile local elections as a beat reporter to building fintech content libraries from the ground up.

Before joining Insurify, she was editor-in-chief at Credible, where she launched and developed the lending marketplace’s media partnership’s content initiative and managed the restructuring of the editorial team to enhance content production efficiency. Formerly, as tax editor for Credit Karma, Evelyn built a library of more than 300 educational articles on federal and state taxes, achieving triple-digit year-over-year growth in e-files from organic search.

Her early career included work as a content marketer, vice president and managing officer of a boutique public relations agency, chief copy editor for 14 weekly Forbes publications, reporting for large and mid-sized daily newspapers, and freelancing for the Associated Press.

Evelyn is passionate about creating personal finance content that distills complex topics into relatable, easy-to-understand stories. She believes great content helps empower readers with the information they need to make important personal finance decisions.

Chris Schafer
Edited byChris SchaferDeputy Managing Editor, News and Marketing Content
Chris Schafer
Chris SchaferDeputy Managing Editor, News and Marketing Content
  • 15+ years in content creation

  • 7+ years in business and financial services content

Chris is a seasoned writer/editor with past experience across myriad industries, including insurance, SAS, finance, Medicare, logistics, marketing/advertising, and many more.

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John Leach
Reviewed byJohn LeachSenior Insurance Copy Editor
Photo of an Insurify author
John LeachSenior Insurance Copy Editor
  • Licensed property and casualty insurance agent

  • 8+ years editing experience

  • NPN: 20461358

John leads Insurify’s copy desk, helping ensure the accuracy and readability of Insurify’s content. He’s a licensed agent specializing in home and car insurance topics.

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