Distracted driving deaths
How many people die each year due to distracted driving? Roughly, nine people are killed and more than 1,000 injured daily in accidents in which at least one driver was distracted.
Nearly 4,000 people were killed in crashes involving distracted drivers in 2015.
Distracted driving was the reported cause of death of 3,450 people in 2016.
An estimated 391,000 drivers were injured in distracted driving crashes in 2017.
For comparison, there were 39,773 gun deaths in the United States in 2017.
In 2019, distracted driving was a reported factor in 8.5% of fatal motor vehicle crashes.
Texting While Driving Statistics from 2012-2018
The following data comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, the National Safety Council, and The Zebra?s internal reports.
Texting and driving laws and facts
A total of 47 states have a texting ban (Arizona, Missouri, and Montana). Only 16 states have a ban on handheld and hands-free devices for all drivers.
Fatalities involving texting while driving comprised 9% of all fatal crashes nationwide.
7% of drivers are using cell phones at any given time.
Answering a text distracts a driver for approximately five seconds. At 55 miles per hour, that's enough time to travel the length of a football field.
Texting while driving increases by 400% a driver?s time spent with their eyes off the road
Use of a cell phone while driving caused an estimated 1.5 million car crashes in the U.S. in 2017.
Texting and driving deaths
14% of fatal crashes involved cell phones.
14% of distracted driving deaths were attributed specifically to cell phone use, as opposed to other forms of distracted driving.
4,637 people died in car crashes in 2018 due to cell phone use.
Including the cost to people's lives, these crashes were responsible for $129 billion ? or 15 percent ? of the overall societal damage caused by motor vehicle crashes. This number only goes up after your primary offense.
