Citation

Brown S, Robertson RD, Vanlaar WGM. Traffic Injury Research Foundation. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Traffic Injury Research Foundation, 2021.

Copyright

(Copyright 2021, Traffic Injury Research Foundation)

The full document is available online.

Abstract

Distracted driving has been reported to rival drinking and driving as the leading contributing factor in fatal crashes, at least in some jurisdictions. To illustrate, it is estimated 20% to 30% of fatal collisions in North America can be attributed to distracted driving (Bowman & Robertson 2016), making it comparable to drinking and driving. Self-reported data from 2020 showed 13.6% of Canadians often drove while talking on a handheld mobile device, 31.5% often talked hands-free, and 11.2% often texted while driving (Robertson et al., in press). This compared to 11.9% of drivers admitting to driving after drinking any amount of alcohol the same year, and 7.5% who drove while over the legal limit (Vanlaar et al. 2020).

Historically, data related to fatal and serious injury collisions, convictions, and self-reported behaviour have been used to measure progress in reducing drinking and driving. Comparing and contrasting data regarding the magnitude and characteristics of this issue to distracted driving can provide context to understand the risk posed. This is the purpose of this report.