Remind Employees About Dangers of Distracted Driving

By Katie Culliton, Senior Editor, CalChamber

In the United States, motor vehicle crashes continue to be the leading cause of work-related deaths. In 2024, 38.2 percent of all occupational fatalities were transportation-related, resulting in 1,937 fatalities. And most of these fatalities involve a motor vehicle — 1,252 fatalities.

Because millions of U.S. workers drive or ride in a vehicle as part of their job, these work-related driving accident statistics are staggering with heart-rending human costs and enormous economic expenses.

In 2018, motor vehicle crash injuries cost employers $72.2 billion — 46 percent resulted from off-the-job injuries to workers and their dependents, and the remainder resulted from on-the-job crashes, according to a 2019 study by the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS). California also had the highest employer costs of motor vehicle crashes — exceeding $5 billion every year.

Now add in how deadly distracted driving has become. On average, in the United States, every day, nine people are killed — and more than 1,000 are injured — in distracted-driver involved crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Cell phones are the most common distraction, but other risky actions include adjusting the radio, eating and drinking. With distracted driving, drivers lose precious seconds that they may need to avoid a close call or deadly crash. If someone driving at 55 mph sends or receives a text while behind the wheel, that person’s eyes are off the road for about 5 seconds — and that’s long enough to drive the length of a football field.