Car Accident Cell Phone Statistics

Currently, the data available for car accidents involving cell phone use is limited. The information on this page reflects the most current 2007 and 2008 statistics regarding cell phone usage and text messaging during car accidents.

While mobile phones have grown enormously in popularity in the past decade, it is still unclear how greatly cell phone calls and texting contribute to car crashes. What is clear is that talking on the phone and texting behind the wheel both lead to distraction, and driver inattention is the leading cause of car accidents.

Teen Driver Cell Phone and Text Messaging Statistics

• Despite the risks, the majority of teen drivers ignore cell phone driving restrictions.
• In 2007, driver distractions, such as using a cell phone or text messaging, contributed to nearly 1,000 crashes involving 16- and 17-year-old drivers.
• Over 60 percent of American teens admit to risky driving, and nearly half of those that admit to risky driving also admit to text messaging behind the wheel.
• Each year, 21% of fatal car crashes involving teenagers between the ages of 16 and 19 were the result of cell phone usage. This result has been expected to grow as much as 4% every year.
• Almost 50% of all drivers between the ages of 18 and 24 are texting while driving.
• Over one-third of all young drivers, ages 24 and under, are texting on the road.
• Teens say that texting is their number one driver distraction.

Adult Driver Cell Phone, Texting, and Car Accident Information

• One-fifth of experienced adult drivers in the United States send text messages while driving.
• A study of dangerous driver behavior released in January 2007 by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. found that of 1,200 surveyed drivers, 73 percent talk on cell phones while driving.
• The same 2007 survey found that 19 percent of motorists say they text message while driving.
• In 2005, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that ten percent of drivers are on handheld or hands free cell phones at any given hour of the day.
• A study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety Motorists found that motorists who use cell phones while driving are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves.
• In 2002, the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis calculated that 2,600 people die each year as a result of using cellphones while driving. They estimated that another 330,000 are injured.
• According to the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, drivers talking on cell phones are 18 percent slower to react to brake lights. They also take 17 percent longer to regain the speed they lost when they braked.
• An estimated 44 percent of American drivers now have cell phones in their automobiles.
• Of cell phone users that were surveyed, 85 percent said they use their phones occasionally when driving, 30 percent use their phones while driving on the highway, and 27 percent use them during half or more of the trips they take.
• 84 percent of cell phone users stated that they believe using a cell phone while driving increases the risk of being in an accident.
• The majority of Americans believe that talking on the phone and texting are two of the the most dangerous behaviors that occur behind the wheel. Still, as many as 81% of drivers admit to making phone calls while driving.
• The number of crashes and near-crashes linked to dialing is nearly identical to the number associated with talking or listening. Dialing is more dangerous but occurs less often than talking or listening.
• Studies have found that texting while driving causes a 400 percent increase in time spent with eyes off the road.

Pennsylvania Cell Phone Car Crash Stats

In Pennsylvania, although there are no laws regarding talking on the cell or sending text messages while driving, there are emerging statistics that show the connection between cell phone use and car wrecks.

• From 2003 to 2006, car accidents from cell phone use lead to 50 deaths across the state of Pennsylvania.
• Cell phone-related car accidents shot up 43 percent in western Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2006.
• In 2006, cell phones caused 241 car accidents in western PA.
• According to PennDOT, from 2002 to 2006 there were 5,715 car accidents linked to the use of handheld cell phones in PA.
• PennDOT also reports 367 accidents in the same time period involving hands free cell phones or Bluetooth communication devices.
• In 2004 alone, handheld cell phone use contributed to over 1,170 Pennsylvania car crashes.
• Accidents involving talking or texting on a cell phone rose from 168 in 2003 to 228 in 2005 in the Western Pennsylvania region. That’s a 36 percent increase in over two years.