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