Distracted Driving Crashes

Distracted driving, including talking or talking on cellphones, that take a drivers attention off the road are a major safety threat to anyone on the road. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gauges distracted driving by collecting data on distraction-affected crashes, which focus on distractions that are most likely to affect crash involvement such as dialing a cellphone or texting and being distracted by another person or an outside event. In 2016, 3,450 people were killed in distraction-affected crashes, according to latest data from NHTSA, or 9.2 percent of all crash fatalities in the United States. Check out these statistics from 2016 to learn how dangerous Distracted Driving was in 2016.

Fatal Crashes Affected By Distracted Drivers, 2016

Crashes Drivers Fatalities
Total fatal crashes 34,439 51,914 37,461
Distracted-affected fatal crashes
Number of distracted-affected
fatal crashes
3,157 3,210 3,450
Percent of total fatal crashes 9% 6% 9%
Cellphone in use in distracted-affected
fatal crashes
Number of cellphone distracted-affected
fatal crashes
444 457 486
Percent of fatal distracted-affected crashes 14% 14% 14%

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration