SAN DIEGO, CA – Drivers’ eyes were looking toward the sky during the solar eclipse on August 21.

Video telematics company Lytx says its data suggests that, like the rest of North America, truck drivers were fixated on the first total solar eclipse visible from this area in 38 years, last Monday.

The company reviewed data from 239,000 vehicles using its system, and compared it to data from 20 previous Mondays over the past five months during daylight hours, to understand how truck drivers behaved during the event.

The company reports that the rate of drivers “off identifiable roadway,” those that pulled over to the side of the road, rose by 68%. They also found that drivers having events involving a communications device other than a cell phone increased by 47%, and drivers driving over the posted speed limit increased by 35%.

Those numbers indicate drivers were stopping to witness the celestial phenomenon, talking about it, and then driving quickly to make up for the lost time spent looking up.

The total solar eclipse took place from about noon eastern standard time (EST) to just after 4 p.m. EST, and was viewable in a band from Oregon to South Carolina in the United States.

The next total solar eclipse viewable from North America will be in April 2024, and will be visible in a band from Mexico, up through the United States, and across Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritime provinces in Canada.