Distracted Driving Incidents: Put the Phone Away or Pay
Distracted driving continues to pose a significant risk to communities across the U.S., with mobile phone use behind the wheel a major contributor. For company-owned fleets, distracted driving can be particularly risky, leaving businesses vulnerable to human, legal and operational liabilities.
Michelle Marsh, senior vice president of EHS at AWP Safety, shares how companies can reduce distracted driving incidents among their fleets, maximize crew and public safety, and improve safety metrics..
Key Takeaways
- Distracted driving remains a leading road safety risk, with approximately 3,275 deaths reported in 2023.
- A fleet driver’s mobile phone usage puts public safety at risk and increases a company’s operational, insurance, and legal exposures.
- Eliminating mobile phone usage mitigates these risks — and ensures infrastructure companies can maintain their customers’ schedules, ensure job site safety and deliver on service commitments.
- Companies can make measurable improvements by building a culture of safety, setting clear expectations, coaching, and leveraging technology.
Q: Michelle, fleet operators have many competing priorities. Why should preventing mobile phone usage be at the top of that list?
Distracted driving remains one of the most significant safety risks on U.S. roads. The most recent numbers from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) show 3,275 people died in 2023 due to distracted driving accidents. One of the most common distractions is texting and driving.
At any given moment, hundreds of thousands of drivers are using their phones — dialing, texting and using apps. It’s a recipe for disaster.
It’s also about serving customers. In infrastructure and utility work, reliability matters. When a preventable incident occurs, it can mean delayed timelines, missed service windows, or added jobsite risk. Distraction-free driving helps ensure crews arrive safely, on time, and ready to perform — supporting consistent service and reinforcing trust with customers and the public.
Q: What’s the risk of distracted driving for companies?
When a vehicle is part of someone’s job, distracted driving is no longer just a personal decision. It becomes an operational and business issue, too.
The most immediate risk is to human lives. A moment of distraction can result in serious injury or loss of life — not only to the driver, but to coworkers, roadside crews and members of the public.
There’s also significant financial and operational exposure. Think costly vehicle damage, increased insurance premiums, potential legal action, and lost productivity. Even a single preventable crash can disrupt operations for weeks and force teams into crisis response mode.
For customers, that disruption can look like delayed projects, missed service windows, or new safety concerns at the jobsite — when crews don’t arrive safely, on time, and ready to perform without interruption.
Since work fleets operate in public view, a safety incident can damage trust with customers, regulators and the communities being served, especially in infrastructure and utility work, where safety is critical to public confidence.
Q: What can business leaders do to reduce distracted driving across their work fleets?
It starts with setting the right expectations, mandating consistent training, and building a system that reinforces the right behaviors — even when no one is watching.
AWP Safety has seen success by integrating mobile phone use expectations into our safety culture. Our leaders are clear that safety is a core value — not just a metric — so expectations become easier to understand and to follow. We have an ongoing, enterprise-wide initiative to eliminate mobile phone use while driving — advancing our systems-based approach to safety and fostering a learning culture. We equip our leaders with tools and resources to consistently communicate shared expectations for mobile phone use in company vehicles: if you need to use a phone, pull over and park. We also coach drivers who need additional reinforcement, and model distraction-free behaviors ourselves.
For organizations beginning to focus on reducing mobile phone use while driving, it’s essential to articulate clear expectations and continually reinforce them in regular interactions. Leaders who model the behavior help embed it into the culture, transforming expectations into lasting habits.
Q: How can technology help companies build and maintain a culture of safety?
Technology helps companies identify and correct poor behaviors and track progress over time.
We use Samsara AI dash cam technology in our trucks, which detects driver behavior and offers an audio “nudge” to keep their eyes on the road. The goal isn’t to “catch” or punish our drivers — it’s to coach them. Data gives us the opportunity to have better conversations with our teams, focus training where it’s needed most, and intervene early to prevent incidents. That added layer of protection helps reduce the likelihood of an incident that could impact a customer’s schedule, jobsite safety, or service commitments—making it a practical form of risk mitigation.
By implementing AI Dashcams, we have dramatically improved behaviors around mobile phone usage, seat belt usage and other driving behaviors.
The most effective fleets don’t rely on a single solution. They build layered systems — culture, technology, training, recognition, and accountability — that work together. When those pieces align, distracted driving decreases and, most importantly, people make it home safe at the end of the day.
