Distracted Driving Car Accidents Down Slightly in California, According to NHTSA
LOS ANGELES, CA (April 3, 2024) – April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month, and the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) released new data this month showing distracted-driving related crashes have decreased slightly in the state of California.
The Ryan Law Group, skilled and experienced California car accident attorneys, queried data using FIRST (Fatality and Injury Reporting System Tool), a tool provided by the NHTSA. The data covered fatality-involved car accidents through the whole state of California, covering the years 2017 to 2022.
After analysis, the data showed that overall, distracted-driving related collisions seem to be down by about 1% since 2017. While this number isn’t necessarily substantial, it is a small improvement. On average, the month of July has the highest occurrences of distracted-driving related accidents. When it comes to age group, there is no significant difference between young drivers (15-20) and older drivers (65+) when it comes to involvement in distracted-driving related accidents.
According to the NHTSA, texting and driving, one of the primary ways people become distracted while driving, is six times more likely to cause a car accident than drunk driving. However, DUI still remains one of the biggest causes of fatal accidents, accounting for nearly 50% of all fatal accidents, on average. For DUI-involved collisions, July also remains the deadliest month.
Drowsy driving is another form of distracted driving. On average, we see the highest occurrences of drowsy-driving related accidents in the month of June, but we see an increase in all of the summer months, through September. There is also no significant difference in daytime versus nighttime drowsy-driving crashes. Overall, men are twice as likely as women to be involved in a fatal drowsy driving collision.
Since 2018, drowsy-driving related crashes have decreased marginally (about half a percent). It still remains a significant issue in California, but is at least trending downward. The summer seems to be particularly deadly when it comes to distracted driving, driving under the influence, and drowsy driving, likely due to increased traffic for holidays and other celebrations. You can decrease your chances of being involved in one of these collisions by traveling during daylight, and avoiding freeways as much as possible.
