St. Louis, MO - Distracted driving has become one of the most major causes of serious automobile accidents in the United States. According to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 80% of automobile accidents involve driver inattention.

Eating, drinking, applying makeup, and the use of GPS are all distractions that have contributed to this astounding number of accidents. The use of mobile phones behind the wheel undoubtedly proved to be the biggest problem. Texting while driving is 6x more likely to cause an accident than drunk driving.

According to the study conducted by Cambridge Metrics Telematics (2017), 75% of drivers see other drivers on their phones every day. Alarming statistics as such, prompted V.F. McNeil Insurance, a Trusted Choice® independent insurance agency located in Branford, Connecticut, to propose the idea of a distracted driving awareness campaign to its branding partner Trusted Choice®.

“From my own experience, I can support the disturbing fact that 75% of drivers use their phones while driving just from what I see on the road each day,” stated Pauline Handy, V.F. McNeil’s Marketing Director. “The last straw for me was during my morning commute to work one day when I was almost side-swiped by a distracted driver. Alongside of me, at a traffic light, this female driver who just missed me, was steering with her knee, while holding a Coke® in one hand and a mobile phone in the other. Sadly, a small child also sat in the back seat of this driver’s car. The fact that I witnessed this occurrence makes me nervous to drive each day.”

Handy approached Trusted Choice® about constructing a campaign that would be customizable to any insurance agency across the nation. “The insurance industry is in a perfect position to make an impact on this problem. If we all do our part, hopefully we can make the same impact that drunk driving campaigns have made over the years.” Trusted Choice® has spearheaded the communication for this campaign. 

The fully customizable campaign is now available to all Trusted Choice® independent insurance agents. V.F. McNeil Insurance continues to promote the campaign throughout the spring and early summer of 2018 when driving increases on roadways. Clayton Hanley Insurance agency, joined the effort to help increase awareness in its own community, located in St. Louis. Trusted Choice®, V.F. McNeil Insurance, and Clayton Hanley Insurance ask you as a community to help them create awareness about distracted driving amongst your own family and friends. 

Clayton Hanley Insurance is a Trusted Choice® independent insurance agency that provides its customers with a range of quality insurance products for the needs of families, individuals, and businesses in St. Louis, Missouri. Clayton Hanley can be reached at 314-487-2921 for questions.