Distracted Driving Statistics

Zebra | 03.23.2020 by Taylor Covington

In January 2020, The Zebra conducted a survey to observe the driving behaviors and attitudes of 2,000 Americans.

• 37.1% of respondents completely agree that distractions on your mobile device impair your ability to drive safely, yet 28.6% of all respondents admitted to texting and driving as their number one distracted driving behavior, over video-chatting, engaging with work emails, and taking photos or videos.

• 56.7% of all respondents reported that they eat or drink while driving.

• 8.9% of respondents aged 25 to 34 said they felt a high degree of pressure to respond to a text message as soon as it came in, and 7.3% of that same age group also felt a high degree of pressure to respond to work-related messages/emails while driving.

Continuing a survey conducted in 2019 by The Zebra, we analyzed the driving patterns of individuals categorized by their mobile device’s operating system.

• 58.6% of respondents using Apple iOS said they felt a very high degree of pressure to respond to a text message, while only 17.7% of Google Android users felt the same.

• 70.4% of Apple iOS using-respondents admitted to video-chatting while driving, while only 23.7% made the same choice.

• 53.7% of Android users in this survey completely agree texting and driving is equally dangerous as drinking and driving, while only 51.5% of iPhone users feel the same way.

• Of those respondents who completely agree that texting and driving is equally as dangerous as drinking and driving, 39.9% said they have engaged with drinking alcohol while driving.

THERE ARE THREE KINDS OF DISTRACTED DRIVING (texting involves all three)

VISUAL DISTRACTION

Doing something that requires the driver to look away from the roadway

MANUAL DISTRACTION

Doing something that requires the driver to take hands off of the steering wheel

MENTAL DISTRACTION

Thinking hard about something other than driving