found that interaction with smartphones while driving — perhaps the most dangerous form of distracted driving — is linked to age, education, marital status, and credit rating, among other factors.

Age is the strongest predictor of distracted driving — and deadly outcomes. In 2020, drivers aged 18-29 were behind the wheel during a distracted-driving fatal crash more than twice as many times as drivers in their 40s, according to Jerry’s analysis.

Nearly three-quarters of drivers involved in fatal distracted-driving crashes in 2020 were male. Excessive speed was also a factor in 29% of those crashes, and 40% of those crashes involving male drivers aged 18-29.

Fatal crashes involving distracted driving were more common in the summer months and on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Distracted driving is a deadly problem. In 2020,

3,142 Americans died

in crashes involving at least one distracted driver — a 10% increase from two years earlier. Eight percent of fatal crashes that year involved distracted drivers.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

defines distracted driving

as anything that causes you to take your eyes off the road, your hands off the wheel, or your mind off driving. Texting is particularly dangerous because it involves all three. Drivers’ manipulation of handheld devices was on the rise through 2019, the latest year for which data is available. The worst offenders were aged 16-24, and females were worse than males.

Many of the efforts to prevent distracted driving have focused on the use of cell phones and other electronic devices. Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia have

banned texting while driving

, and 24 states and D.C. have outlawed talking on a handheld mobile phone while driving, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

Car-insurance companies are using data transmitted remotely from vehicles — known as telematics — to gauge driving performance and offer discounts to higher-performing drivers. Distraction is one metric they look at, and this can include any type of driver interaction with a smartphone.

Profiles in Distraction

We analyzed data from more than 55,000 drivers to create composite sketch profiles of the most and least distracted drivers, based entirely on smartphone interaction while driving.

Generally, software engineers and scientists who are 35 years or older, who use Linux, Windows, or Android devices, live in the Western region of the U.S., and are homeowners, rank best at keeping their hands off their phones while driving.

Receptionists and customer service representatives under 35 years old, who live in the South, who are single and renters, who don’t have a college degree and who use Mac OS or iOS devices, rank among the most distracted.

People with PhD’s and master’s degrees performed better than those with lower education levels. Married people and domestic partners outperformed singles, as did homeowners versus renters. Credit score was a strong indicator: the higher the score, the less distracted.

But the clearest correlation with distraction scores was the age of the driver. Of course, it’s no surprise that older adults would outperform teenagers. But scores rose with every 10 years of age — all the way up to 65 and older.

The predictable result is higher numbers of deaths among teenagers and people in their 20s. Teen drivers have higher rates of fatal crashes overall, and that holds true for those linked to distracted driving. One in three teens say they have texted while driving, an activity that

dramatically increases the risk of crashing

Conclusion

Most people are guilty of distracted driving at least occasionally, regardless of age, education, gender, or any other personal characteristic. But young men are the drivers and victims in the vast majority of distracted-driving fatal crashes, and they will be the most difficult to convince to change their behavior, given their fearlessness and stronger risk appetite.

Banning texting and the use of cell phones by drivers, which has already been done in many states, will only do so much where young drivers are concerned, especially since those laws are so difficult to enforce. So powerful education campaigns may be the only way to reach those whose behavior most often has deadly consequences.

Methodology

Jerry examined data from the NHTSA on fatal crashes involving distracted drivers in 2019 and 2020.

We also looked at data from more than 55,000 drivers to determine performance on the distraction score, which is based on phone use. “Distraction” is recorded when the phone’s screen is on, the phone is in motion within the vehicle, and the vehicle is in motion.

Written By

Henry Hoenig · Data Journalist

Henry Hoenig previously worked as an economics editor for Bloomberg News and a senior news editor for The Wall Street Journal. His data journalism at Jerry has been featured in outlets including CBS News, Yahoo! Finance, FOX Business, Business Insider, Bankrate, The Motley Fool, AutoWeek, and Money.com.

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