National Distracted Driving Awareness Month Kickoff

AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY

Good morning, I’m Jonathan Morrison, Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Thank you for joining us today as we mark National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Our agency is laser focused on safety and that means directly confronting risky driving behaviors, like distraction, that contribute to tens of thousands of traffic fatalities each year. 

On that note, today we are releasing our latest traffic fatality numbers. As many of you are aware, we saw a spike in fatalities and the fatality rate starting in 2020 that corresponded to the pandemic. And deaths continued to rise, peaking at over 43,000 fatalities in 2022 and topping 40,000 for several years in a row. 

We’ve completed our early estimates for traffic fatalities in 2025, and we are encouraged to report a critical and significant turn in this trend--with fatalities returned to pre-pandemic levels last seen in 2019. In fact, our projected decrease of 6.7% from 2024 would be the fifth-largest decrease since NHTSA started the Fatality Analysis Reporting System in 1975. 

We’re also estimating that 2025 had the second-lowest fatality rate in recorded history, with 1.10 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. Our projections show that fatalities decreased in 39 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. 

We are encouraged that fatalities have declined from the heights seen in recent years, and I want to thank all of our safety partners, especially law enforcement, for stepping up over the last year to help us save lives. We know that a renewed focus on traffic enforcement has stopped tens of thousands of dangerous drivers before they could hurt others. 

However, I’ll note that we’re projecting 36,640 traffic fatalities for 2025. And while that’s certainly lower than we’ve seen in recent years, we still have more work to do to save more lives. We cannot be satisfied until we see that number reach zero. 

As we continue to combat the ongoing traffic fatality crisis, we are committed to doubling down on strategies that reduce risky driving behaviors, empower traffic enforcement, and make our roads safer for everyone. 

One vital way we’ll do that is through events like today’s, which commemorates National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Distracted driving is 100% preventable, yet too many people give the road far less than 100% of their attention. 

You may be wondering about this display behind me. Each car key on the wall represents a person injured in a crash involving a distracted driver in 2024. This wall represents 4,000 crash victims injured from completely careless and avoidable driver behavior.   

But if we wanted to reflect the real severity of this situation, we’d need to be hosting this event in a football field, since posting a car key for each of the 315,167 people injured in distracted driving crashes from 2024 would require a wall covering half a football field. 

That’s an estimated 861 people injured per day, 36 injured per hour, and 18 injured every 30 minutes in distracted-driving crashes. 

This wall represents the people injured in just four and a half days, reminding us of the real, human cost of distracted driving. 

Beyond life scarring injuries, our data report that 3,208 people were killed in 2024 in crashes involving a distracted driver, but we are all aware that number does not fully capture the scope of the problem. Distraction can be hard to detect and document after a crash, and we know that distracted driving remains one of the most prevalent risky driving behaviors on our roads, year after year. 

Our Put the Phone Away or Pay campaign drives home this essential warning and important reminder. From April 6 to 13, we’ll be partnering with law enforcement agencies across the country, which will conduct high-visibility enforcement to identify and stop distracted drivers. While our campaign specifically targets drivers aged 18 to 34, we want to remind everyone of the financial, legal, and even deadly consequences of driving distracted. 

In addition to law enforcement, we also partner with states and other federal agencies to spread this lifesaving message. This includes our fellow agencies at the U.S. Department of Transportation, who help amplify this message among their stakeholders. 

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration works closely with us to ensure commercial drivers are educated and understand the profound responsibility they have to drive distraction free. 

It only takes a second or two to change lives forever. 

That’s the theme of our new television advertisements you’ll see airing in the next few days. Our Put the Phone Away or Pay campaign is supported by a national media buy in English and Spanish on television, radio and digital platforms. 

These ads educate drivers about the deadly consequences of taking their eyes off the road. We’d like to show you them now – the first is in English and illustrates how quickly tragedy can strike when someone is distracted. It also features our Secretary, Sean Duffy, who has been a true champion for traffic safety. And the second ad, which is in Spanish, highlights how being addicted to your phone can cost you everything. 

As we wrap up, I’ll note that we’ve been here about a half hour now. In just the time we’ve been talking today, another 18 people have been injured in distracted driving crashes. I’d like to invite our speakers to help me recognize these individuals and add another 18 keys to our wall. 

Every key represents a life forever changed by distracted driving. This National Distracted Driving Awareness Month, we want to draw attention to the deadly consequences of paying anything less than full attention to the road. That call, that text, that notification, that conversation with a passenger – they can all wait until you’re safely at your destination. 

Officers will be out in force ensuring that distracted drivers can’t hurt themselves or anyone else on the road. Remember: Put the Phone Away or Pay. 

Thank you so much for joining us today, and please drive safely.