The COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant shift in people's travel behaviors and distractions while driving. This paper aims to investigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on distracted driving by comparing their behavior before and during the pandemic (from 3/1/2019 to 3/1/2021) in the state of Maryland using a stated preference online survey. Some 158 people were recruited for the survey. Participants were asked about their risky driving behaviors and self-reported distraction both before and during the pandemic. To analyze the results, the Chi-square and post-hoc tests with the Bonferroni adjustment were applied. The results showed that during the pandemic, distraction dropped from 25% to 21%. The highest reported distracted driving behavior during the pandemic was using hands-free cell phones (64%), using GPS (75%), and eating or drinking (57%). The respondents' daily trips have significantly decreased - about 44% below pre-pandemic rates. Moreover, using a binary logistic regression, it was revealed that the odds of becoming distracted among participants who used a handheld cell phone before and during the pandemic were 4.5 and 6.6 times higher than others, respectively. The findings of this study shed light on the causes of distraction before and during the pandemic.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This study was financially supported by the Maryland Department of Transportation - Motor Vehicle Administration - Maryland Highway Safety Office.

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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Ethics committee/IRB of Morgan State University waived ethical approval for this work.

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All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors