How Many People Die in Distracted Driving Crashes Each Year?

Quick answer: In 2024, 3,208 people were killed in distraction-affected crashes in the US — 8 percent of the 39,254 people who died on the roads that year, or about 9 deaths every day. An estimated 315,167 more people were injured, according to NHTSA's research note "Distracted Driving in 2024".

The five-year trend

Distraction deaths peaked in 2021 and have eased since, though they remain above 2020 levels:

• 2020: 3,154 deaths
• 2021: 3,521 deaths
• 2022: 3,316 deaths
• 2023: 3,283 deaths
• 2024: 3,208 deaths

In 2024 there were 2,955 fatal crashes involving distraction — 8 percent of all 36,297 fatal crashes nationwide. Distraction also featured in an estimated 13 percent of injury crashes and 12 percent of all police-reported crashes.

What counts as distracted driving

Distraction is not just phones. NHTSA defines it as any time a driver diverts attention from driving to focus on something else: eating, talking to passengers, adjusting the radio or climate controls — as well as texting or calling. A crash counts as distraction-affected when a driver is identified as distracted at the time of the crash.

Cellphones: the best-known distraction

Phone use gets the most attention, and the numbers show why it keeps a large share:

• In 2024, 404 fatal crashes were reported with cellphone use as the distraction — 14 percent of all distraction-affected fatal crashes.
• 437 people died in crashes where at least one driver was using a cellphone.
• 5 percent of all drivers in fatal crashes (3,026 of 55,620) were reported as distracted at the time.

Young drivers are overrepresented

Drivers aged 15 to 44 are more likely to be distracted in fatal crashes than older drivers. Six percent of drivers in each of the 15–20, 21–24, 25–34 and 35–44 age groups involved in fatal crashes were distracted, compared with 5 percent overall. The 25–34 group alone accounted for 667 distracted drivers — 22 percent of all distracted drivers in fatal crashes.

The official numbers are probably an underestimate

NHTSA is open about the limits of its data: distraction is only recorded when a police report says so, and a driver who was looking at a phone rarely volunteers that fact. A 2019 naturalistic driving study cited by NHTSA found distraction involved in 29 percent of all crashes — implying about 10,546 deaths that year, more than three times the officially reported figure.

Pedestrians and cyclists pay part of the price too: 639 non-occupants — people on foot, on bikes or otherwise outside vehicles — were killed in distraction-affected crashes in 2024.

Distraction in context: how it compares with other causes

Distraction kills fewer people than the two biggest behavioural causes, but it is still a major one. Speeding was a factor in 29 percent of 2024 road deaths (11,288), alcohol-impaired driving in about 30 percent (around 11,904, per our alcohol-impaired driving deaths by state page), and distraction in 8 percent (3,208). The three overlap — a distracted driver is often also speeding — but together they account for the majority of preventable deaths.

What brings distraction deaths down

The countermeasures are well known: hands-free and hand-held bans, which now exist in some form in nearly every state; phone mounts and voice controls that keep devices out of hands; "Do Not Disturb While Driving" modes that silence notifications automatically; and high-visibility enforcement campaigns such as NHTSA's annual "Put the Phone Away or Pay" push. The simplest habit costs nothing: put the phone out of reach before you start the engine. The 2024 death toll of 3,208 is the lowest since 2020 — progress, but still about nine deaths a day.

How these numbers were counted

All figures come from NHTSA's Research Note "Distracted Driving in 2024" (DOT HS 813 790, April 2026), drawn from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) for deaths — actual counts — and the Crash Report Sampling System (CRSS) for injuries — estimates. The 2024 figures use the Annual Report File, which can still be revised when the final file is published; the 2023 distraction total was revised from 3,275 to 3,283 when the final file replaced the annual report file. [NHTSA's Research Note on Distracted Driving in 2024](http://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/89789/dot_89789_DS1.pdf)

See US road statistics, compare alcohol-impaired driving deaths by state, or check today's incidents on the live map.