A new study found Utah drivers aren’t too distracted on the roads.
Zendrive found Utah is the eighth least-distracted state when it comes to driving. California, Nevada, Montana, Hawaii, Idaho, Washington and Oregon ranked ahead of the Beehive State.
Utah’s distraction level was lower than nearby Wyoming (No. 9) and Colorado (No. 15).
Conversely, Vermont drivers proved to be the most distracted. Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Arkansas were also listed as the most-distracted states, the study found.
Utah received its low ranking because drivers only spent 4.25 percent of their day looking at their phone while driving. The least-distracted state, Oregon, only spent 3.69 percent doing such.
On the flip side, Vermont residents spent on average 7.42 percent of their day using their phone while driving, despite having a handheld phone ban within the state, according to the study.
Vermont bucks the trend, though. The study found states that have laws that ban handheld phone use are less likely to participate in distracted driving.
“It appears that at the state-level laws that ban handheld phone use actually reduce the amount of time per trip drivers use their phones. Of the 10 states with the lowest levels of phone use, six have laws limiting phone use while driving,” according to the report.
As Mashable reported, the study found some “troubling” news about how often Americans use their phones. For example, drivers use their mobile devices in 88 out of 100 car trips. More so, most drivers use their phones for 3.5 minutes on average during hourlong drives.
“Whether you're talking on speaker phone, texting or taking selfies, any distraction, no matter how long, constitutes distracted driving,” according to Mashable.
Distracted driving raises your risk for crashing, The New York Times reported. In fact, researchers from Virginia Tech Transportation Institute found the chances rise by 12 times when drivers engaged in any distracted behavior, NYT reported.
A 2016 study ranked Utah in the middle of the road when it came to worst states for driving. The state did, however, rank in the “best” category for worst states for driving drunk, according to USA Today.
Another study in 2016 from car insurance company QuoteWizard ranked Utah as the state with the worst drivers in the country due to its high amount of accidents and speeding.