OLYMPIA, Wash. — The state may use your driving habits to make roads safer and you may not know it.
Earlier this year state legislators approved funding to purchase data from traffic-related cell phone applications to access driver information, including how fast they’re going and when they’re on their phones.
“We can see a picture of behavior that we can’t get in any other way,” said Shelly Baldwin, Washington Traffic Safety Commission director.
Baldwin said Thursday morning the data does not come with any identifiable information about drivers.
She said the data, looking at driver behavior between June 2022 and June 2023, revealed half of all drivers go at rates considered “egregious,” more than 15 miles an hour over the posted speed limit during trips.
Those drivers were on their phones 25% of the time. Baldwin said prior studies by the state suggested that figure was closer to 9%.
Baldwin said the data showed cell phone use was twice as high on residential streets compared to highways.
”Which is super-dangerous because that's where all the kids are, and people are walking,” Baldwin said.
She said the state needs to look for new ways to reduce traffic deaths.
During Thursday’s meeting, she showed commission members and state agency representatives a graph showing the change in traffic fatality rates for all 50 states.
Washington was at the top.
“When we looked at this, we were alarmed,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin said preliminary numbers show 2024 could result in fewer deaths compared to 2023, but it was too early to count on that.