Distracted Driving Statistics
- One survey of drivers in six countries found that 35% admitted to changing their clothes while driving, 13% admitted to applying makeup while driving, and 15% admitted to engaging in sexual activity while driving. (WIRED, 2010)
- In some parts of Canada, the number of distracted driving fatalities has now surpassed the number of impaired (drunk or drugged) driving fatalities. (Traffic Injury Research Foundation, 2019)
- In 2016, distraction was a contributing factor in 21% of collisions resulting in death and 27% of collisions resulting in serious injury. (Canada Safety Council, 2019)
- According to the U.S. National Safety Council, about 1.6 million car crashes (26% of all car crashes) in the United States involve phone use, including hands-free phone use. (CAA, 2020)
- 78% of Canadians admitted that they frequently change the radio station while driving. (CAA polling, 2020)
- 47% of Canadians have programmed a destination on their GPS or mobile device while driving. (CAA polling, 2020)
- A quarter of Canadians have changed a song on their phone while driving. (CAA polling, 2020)
- A web survey of Canadian drivers in 2017 found that 14% of them admitted to having engaged in romantic activities while driving, and 3% of them admitted to having flossed while driving. (belairdirect, 2017)
- Dialling a phone number while driving increases a teen's risk of crashing by six times. (NHTSA, 2018)
- Dialling a phone is one of the most dangerous distractions, increasing a driver's chance of crashing by 12 times. (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 2016)
- Reading or writing increased the risk of crashing by 10 times. (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 2016)
- Driving while crying or visibly angry increased the risk of crashing by 10 times. (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 2016)
- Using a hands-free electronic device is four times more distracting than talking to an adult passenger. (Driver's Alert, 2017)
- Child passengers can be 12 times more distracting to a driver than talking on a cell phone. One study found that the average parent driver took his or her eyes off the road for three minutes and 22 seconds during a 16-minute trip. (Monash University, 2013)
- Manual transmission vehicles double the chances of distracted driving crashes caused by food consumption. (Drive-Safely.net, 2019)
- Smartphone apps are one reason for the increase in distracted driving. Apps like Snapchat record the speed of a vehicle, the navigation app Waze rewards drivers for reporting traffic conditions in the moment, and games like Pokemon Go encourage drivers to search for virtual creatures along roads and highways. (New York Times, 2016)
- All 10 provinces plus the Yukon, Northwest, and Nunavut territories now ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving, although the penalties vary among these provinces and territories. (CAA, 2020)
- Newfoundland (2002) was the first province to enact a ban on the use of hand-held cell phones, and Alberta (2011) was the last. (HandsFreeInfo.com, 2020)
Texting and Driving Accident Statistics
- Texting while driving increases the risk of crashing by 23 times. (NHTSA, 2018)
- 47 of the 50 US states ban texting while driving, and 15 states ban drivers from hand-held phone use. (FCC, 2017)
- Texting increases your chances of rear-ending someone by a factor of 7. (AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 2018)
- 33% of Canadians admit they have texted while stopped at a red light, despite believing it is unacceptable. (CAA, 2016)
- 47% of Canadians admitted that they have typed a text message or used the voice-memo feature to send a text message while driving. (CAA polling, 2020)
- The maximum amount of time that a driver can safely divert his or her attention from the road is two seconds. It takes a driver an average of five seconds to send a text message. (TeenSafe, 2018)
- Sending or reading a text message takes your eyes off the road for an average of five seconds. At 90 km/h, your vehicle will travel 125 metres - longer than a football field, including the two end zones.
Alcohol-Impaired Driving Statistics
- A driver with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.10% is 51 times as likely as a non-drinking driver to be involved in a fatal crash. (MADD Canada, 2020)
- A public opinion poll of Canadian drivers in 2017 found that 5.1% of drivers admitted they had driven a vehicle despite believing they were over the legal BAC limit (0.08%) at the time. (Traffic Injury Research Foundation, 2017)
- A survey of young Ontario drivers in 2013 found that among drivers in grades 10 through 12, 4% of them had driven a vehicle after drinking alcohol, and 9.7% had driven a vehicle after smoking cannabis. (MADD Canada, 2020)
- In 2014, there were an estimated 2,297 traffic fatalities. It is estimated that 1,273 (55.4%) of these deaths resulted from crashes in which an individual was positive for alcohol or drugs:
- 299 deaths, or 13%, occurred in crashes involving individuals who were positive for alcohol alone.
- 618 deaths, or 26.9%, occurred in crashes involving individuals who were positive for drugs alone.
- 356 deaths, or 15.5%, occurred in crashes involving individuals who were positive for both alcohol and drugs.
- These figures do not include fatal crashes on private property, Crown land, or a road administered by a First Nation.
- Cannabis was present in nearly half of the drug-positive fatal crashes. (MADD Canada, 2020)
- In 2014, 16% of collisions resulting in serious injury or death involved a drinking driver. 69% of collisions involving a drinking driver were single-vehicle collisions. (Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, 2017)
- In 2015, 26.9% of persons killed in road crashes on public roadways in Canada (excluding BC) involved a drinking driver. (Traffic Injury Research Foundation, 2018)
- Alcohol-impaired driving most often occurs on weekends (47% of incidents) and between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. In contrast, research has shown that although 28% of drug-impaired driving incidents occurred between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m., an equal proportion of incidents occurred between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. Less than one-third of drug-impaired driving incidents occurred on weekends. (Traffic Injury Research Foundation, 2017)
- Between 2000 and 2014, the total number of traffic fatalities declined by 34.7%, whereas the number of alcohol-related fatalities declined by 40.8%. Evidently, a true decrease in fatalities caused by impaired driving has occurred. (Traffic Injury Research Foundation, 2018)
- In 2014, 16.4% of alcohol-positive drivers who were killed in traffic crashes had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) over 0.16%, which is over twice the legal limit in Canada. 7.3% of the alcohol-positive drivers who were killed had BACs between 0.081% and 0.160%. (Traffic Injury Research Foundation, 2018)
- In 2014, the distribution of fatally injured legally impaired (BAC 0.08% or above) drivers by vehicle type was as follows: (Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, 2014)
- In 2015, the distribution of police traffic stops per 100,000 population for impaired driving (alcohol, drugs, or both) by province or territory was as follows:
Among the provinces, Saskatchewan had the highest rate (575); Ontario the lowest rate (111). The Yukon and Northwest Territories had much higher rates (1,210 and 1,211, respectively) than Saskatchewan. (Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, 2016)
- Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among 16- to 25-year-olds. Alcohol or drugs are a factor in 55% of those crashes. (MADD Canada, 2020)
- In 2010, 16- to 25-year-olds made up 13.6% of the population but almost 33.4% of the impairment-related traffic deaths. (MADD Canada, 2020)
- In nearly two-thirds of the alcohol-related multiple-vehicle crashes, it was the fatally injured teen driver who had been drinking and not the other drivers. (MADD Canada, 2020)
- Males account for 87% of the young fatally injured drinking drivers and 89% of the young seriously injured drinking drivers.
- In 2010, impairment-related crashes resulted in an estimated 1,082 fatalities, 63,821 injuries, and damage to 210,932 vehicles in property-damage-only (PDO) crashes. There was a total of 181,911 crashes, costing an estimated $20.62 billion. (MADD Canada, 2020)