Nope. Anecdotal to me of course, but I did a little activity where I stood on a pedestrian island off a busy stretch of road near me. I did this a handful of times.

Over each 5 minute stretch, I'd observe at least 1/10 drivers staring down at their phones while driving through intersection

It's nuts. We are a distracted population.

I was in Canada last week for work and it was shocking how few drivers were distracted by phones. I came to expect cars to drive away when their light turned green rather than waiting for the “wake up, dumbass!” honk from the car one to three cars behind. It was nice and immediately upon return to the US, I saw the red light scrollers back in force.

> Is my experience unique?

Not at all. When my wife and I go on longer trips, e.g. north to ski or west to where my daughter was at college, she likes to do most of the driving. Sometimes I amuse myself by counting how many of the drivers around us are using their phones while driving. It's often well over 50% and that's counting conservatively - e.g. phone actually visible in their hand, not on the dash or in their lap. If police would just enforce that one law with hefty fines and loss of license, I think safety would be significantly improved.

It could also be the pedestrians looking at their phone, not where they’re going. Or both combined