Distracted Driving Statistics in 2024
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Centers for Disease Control both keep statistics on the number of distracted driving deaths and injuries that occur on American highways annually. According to their numbers, distracted driving kills thousands of Americans and injures another hundred thousand every year. In this article, the Tampa FL car accident attorneys at The Matassini Law Firm will discuss distracted driving accidents, how they’re understood, how to prevent them, and the scope of the damage caused by distracted driving.
What is distracted driving?
Distracted driving constitutes any behavior that takes your attention away from the act of driving while you’re behind the wheel. The NHTSA lists the following as common ways drivers are distracted while they’re operating their vehicles:
- Eating and drinking
- Texting or talking on the phone
- Talking to passengers
- Interacting with the radio or GPS
Technically, the NHTSA considers any behavior that doesn’t contribute to proper and safe driving practices to be a form of distracted driving.
Types of distracted driving
The CDC recognizes three types of distracted driving:
- Visual – When you take your eyes off the road while operating a motor vehicle.
- Manual – When you take your hands off the wheel while you are driving.
- Cognitive – When you take your attention off the act of driving.
When you text while driving, you are committing all three forms of distraction at the same time. The CDC estimates that answering a text while driving at highway speeds is like traveling the full length of a football field with your eyes closed.
How many crashes per year are caused by distracted driving?
According to the NHTSA, 13% of all accidents that occurred on the road in 2021 were the result of a driver who was distracted while driving. This percentage was slightly lower than the previous three years, largely due to the state’s efforts to curtail distraction on the road by passing aggressive anti-texting laws. While the numbers appear to be getting better, they still show that thousands of accidents every year could be prevented by drivers better focused on their driving.
Cell phone use while driving remains a major problem. In 2021, of the 804,928 accidents that were caused by distracted driving, 8% of those (64,901) were caused by cell phone usage. Between 2017 and 2021, 7% to 9% of auto crashes that resulted in injury and 6% to 8% of accidents involving property damage involved a cell phone. While aggressive texting-while-driving laws have reduced the number of overall accidents, they haven’t eliminated them to any significant degree. These accidents remain all too common on Florida roads.
Talk to a Tampa, FL Car Accident Injury Attorney Today
Injured in a car accident? You may be entitled to more compensation than you’d otherwise be offered by the insurance company. You will only get one chance to settle your case. The stakes are high. You likely will miss time from work, suffer the expense of medical bills for treatment, and you may never fully recover from the accident. The Matassini Law Firm helps those injured in car accidents recover a fair amount of compensation to fully compensate them for all their injuries. Call our Tampa personal injury lawyers today to schedule an appointment, and learn more about how we can help.
Source:
marketwatch.com/guides/insurance-services/distracted-driving-statistics-2024/
