Texas is among the worst states for distracted drivers, new study finds

The Texas Department of Transportation apparently developed its "Talk. Text. Crash." campaign for good reason: roughly 500 people in the Lone Star State died due to distracted driving in 2022.

Little surprise perhaps that a newly released study ranked Texas as the eighth-worst state when it comes to distracted driving.

That analysis, conducted by Bader Scott Injury Lawyers, ranked states based on the dangers posed by distracted driving, according to 2022 data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration , the Federal Highway Administration and the U.S. Census Bureau .

Researchers based states' overall rankings on the total number of people killed by distracted drivers, the percent of fatal accidents caused by distracted drivers, the number of people killed per 100,000 residents by distracted drivers and the number of distracted drivers involved in fatal crashes per 100,000 licensed drivers.

New Mexico was found to be the worst state for distracted driving, in large part due to 39.7% of fatal accidents there being caused by distracted drivers. Kansas and Louisiana landed at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively.
In eighth-ranked Texas, 11.23% of fatal collisions were attributed to distracted drivers. What's more, for every, 100,000 licensed drivers in the Lone Star State, 4.03 were distracted drivers involved in a fatal crash.

The Bader Scott study found that o n average, 3,132 people die in the U.S. annually from fatal crashes involving distracted drivers. Data also show that d istracted driving fatalities increased 14% from 2018 to 2022.

The most prevalent age group for distracted driving is 20-39 years old, according to the report. That age group made up 42% of distracted drivers, followed by people 40-59, who make up 30% of the total.

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