Phone addiction: Here's how many US drivers still text behind the wheel

US road deaths surged by 14.4% between 2014 and 2016

MarchSafety regulators still have no idea just how deadly the combination of mobile phones and cars can be, but mounting evidence paints a grim picture.

The latest disconcerting data come from a massive study by Zendrive, a San Francisco-based startup that tracks phone use for automobile insurers and ride-hailing fleets. Of the 2.3 million drivers it monitored over 5.6 billion miles, some 12 per cent were characterised as mobile-phone addicts—calling, texting or scrolling through apps three times more than the average driver.

“Without decisive action and a lot of education, it will be difficult to see the trend