Under 16 and over 65 most likely to be distracted in fatal auto crashes

A new study has revealed that the youngest and oldest drivers on American roads are most likely to be distracted when involved in fatal crashes.

The research by Bader Law analyzed data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System from 2020-2023 to determine which age groups had the highest rates of distraction during fatal crashes.

Age groups and distraction rates in fatal crashes

The study found that drivers under 16 years old topped the list with more than half (52.19%) being distracted when involved in fatal collisions. This age group accounts for 845 drivers involved in fatal crashes during the study period, with 441 of them recorded as distracted.

In 2023 alone, 3,275 people were killed by distracted driving. Distracted driving is anything that takes the driver’s attention away from the road and their focus on driving safely, which could be anything from texting to eating and drinking.

Senior drivers aged 65 and older followed closely in second place, with 51.93% of drivers being distracted during fatal accidents. This is particularly concerning as this age group had the second-highest number of drivers involved in fatal crashes at 38,939, with 20,220 of those being distracted drivers.

Young adults aged 21-24 ranked third, with 51.05% of drivers in this age group being distracted during fatal crashes. Out of 14,997 drivers involved in fatal crashes, 7,656 were recorded as distracted.

Teen drivers aged 16-20 placed fourth on the list, with 50.82% of drivers being distracted in fatal collisions. This group had 19,233 drivers involved in fatal crashes, with 9,775 being distracted.

Adults aged 25-34 ranked fifth, with 49.67% of drivers in this age group being distracted during fatal crashes. This means 17,778 out of the total 35,795 drivers involved in fatal crashes were distracted.

Ranking sixth were drivers aged 45-64, with 49.34% of drivers in this category being distracted during fatal accidents. This age group had the highest number of drivers involved in fatal crashes at 126,797, with 62,556 of those being distracted drivers.

Completing the ranking are drivers aged 35-44 in seventh place, with 49.26% of drivers in this group being distracted during fatal collisions. This represents 42,438 distracted drivers out of 86,149 total drivers involved in fatal crashes.

Seth Bader, spokesperson for Bader Law, commented on the findings:

“The findings identify young drivers as being substantially over-involved in crashes compared to adult drivers. According to NHTSA data, drivers 20 and under made up just 5.1% of licensed drivers in the United States in 2021, yet they accounted for 8.5% of total drivers in all fatal crashes and 12.6% of drivers in all crashes.

“The study's results show concerning levels of distraction across all age groups, with the difference between the highest and lowest distraction rates being less than 3 percentage points. All age groups showed distraction rates of nearly 50% or higher in fatal crashes.

“These statistics shed light on a serious problem affecting drivers of all ages on our roads. The high rate of distraction among both the youngest and oldest drivers points to different but equally concerning issues in these age groups. Young drivers may lack the experience to recognize dangerous situations, while older drivers might become distracted by the newer technology now in a lot of cars or have slower reaction times.

“What's most alarming is that across all age groups, roughly half of all drivers involved in fatal crashes were distracted. This tells us that distracted driving remains a widespread problem that affects Americans of all ages.”

Methodology:

Data on fatal crashes was sourced from https://www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars. The data for the years 2020-2023 were used.

Data was retrieved for each instance of a driver that was recorded as 'distracted'. For each instance, the state where the accident occurred and the age of the driver were extracted.

The number of distracted drivers in each state within distinct age groups was calculated and used with the total number of drivers recorded to calculate the percentage of distracted drivers per age group.

For each state, the age group with the highest percentage of distracted drivers was extracted.

Separately, the age groups are ranked from the highest percentage of distracted drivers to the lowest.