11 Facts About Texting and Driving

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1. Instagram is the most-used app while driving overall, with 24% of respondents saying they had used it while driving in the past month. It’s the most-used app for men (22%), women (15%), 18-29 year olds (26%), and 30-44 year olds (28%).
2. National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that motor-vehicle deaths in 2023 were 40,990, down 3.6% from 42,514 in 2022. The reduction of 1,524 fatalities, although good, is still tragically high. 40,990 car crash fatalities are about the same as 200 Boeing 737 Maxes crashing in a year.
3. 28.9% of all crashes are linked to distracted driving, with phone interactions being a leading cause.
4. Texting distracts you long enough to travel the length of an entire football with your eyes off the road, driving at 55 mph.
5. 34% of crashes happen within one minute of phone use or another distraction.
6. 69.7% of trips in 2023 included some form of screen interaction. The 10% of drivers who interact with their phone screen while driving the most are 240% more likely to crash than drivers who don’t.
7. Handheld call crashes experience the biggest increase in severity, raising the impact speed by 31%.
8. Texting while driving has the same effect on your driving reaction time as if you had consumed four beers in a single hour.
9. High-risk drivers who were highly engaged with a Usage-Based Insurance program improved more than any other group. These risky drivers improved distracted driving by 20%, hard braking by 9%, and speeding by 27% over the course of the study
10. Despite 62% of drivers being aware of Do Not Disturb While Driving (DNDWD), only 20% of drivers consistently use it. Younger drivers, aged 18-29 years, are the most active users, with 29% claiming they always or often use it.
11. Today, 29 states have a hands-free law. These laws make it illegal for drivers to handle their phone in any fashion while driving. Texting while driving is now illegal in every state except for Montana, which saw the biggest increase in phone motion distraction in 2023, rising nearly 11%.

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