Distracted driving fell 8.6% in 2024, preventing an estimated 105,000 crashes and 480 fatalities (Cambridge Mobile Telematics)
Shift into Safe News
Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT), the world’s largest telematics provider, released new data showing distracted driving — when drivers text, use apps and interact with their phones — dropped 8.6% in 2024, marking the second consecutive year of improvement. CMT estimates this reduction helped prevent 105,000 crashes, 59,000 injuries, 480 fatalities and $4.2 billion in economic damages last year. The reduction in distracted driving is likely driven by increased enrollment in usage-based insurance (UBI) programs, expanded hands-free laws, greater public awareness and the adoption of new in-vehicle technology.
Key Data on Distracted Driving Trends in 2024:
- Drivers spent 1 minute and 56 seconds per driving hour tapping their phone screens in 2024, the lowest level since 2020.
- Drivers also handled their phones less frequently in 2024. Phone motion distraction, when drivers are physically handling their phones, declined 11.3% in 2024 to 1 minute and 22 seconds per driving hour. This marks the first time phone motion has fallen below pre-pandemic levels, down 22% from its peak in 2022.
- Speeding also decreased for the second consecutive year, with drivers spending 21% less time speeding compared to two years ago.
Preliminary NHTSA data align with these trends, with the agency reporting a 4.4% decline in traffic fatalities nationwide during the first nine months of 2024, marking ten consecutive quarters of reduced fatalities.
The Impact of Hands-Free Laws on Road Safety
When drivers handle their phones, the likelihood of crashing and the severity of that crash increase significantly, with handheld calls increasing the speed of a crash by 31%. This is why the work states are doing to prohibit drivers from using their phones behind the wheel is so important. Today, 30 states and the District of Columbia have hands-free laws in effect.
In the states that introduced hands-free laws in 2023 — Ohio, Alabama, Michigan and Missouri — distracted driving has decreased by an average of 11.8% since the laws began, preventing an estimated 31,000 crashes and 140 fatalities. Michigan leads these states with an 18.7% reduction in distracted driving since its law went into effect 18 months ago, and a 29% reduction in the last three months alone.
These new hands-free states saw more reductions in distracted driving in 2024 than the rest of the country — 12% compared to the 8.6% nationwide average.
