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We here at WinIt have gone through the data and put together a little report to shed some light on various violations and other driving statistics. Check out our findings below:

Distracted Driving Statistics

Distracted driving is defined differently in each state, but here’s a helpful definition provided by the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA): “Distracted driving is any activity that diverts attention from driving.” The NHTSA goes on to provide the following list of examples of distracted driving:

• Talking or texting on your phone.
• Eating or drinking.
• Talking to people in your vehicle.
• Fiddling with the stereo.
• An entertainment or navigation system.
• Anything that takes your attention away from the task of safe driving.

It is estimated that distracted driving leads to more than 3,000 deaths and roughly 280,000 accidents each year. In 2019, the exact number of deaths with distracted driving as a reported factor totalled 3,142. Experts believe distracted driving to be the cause of between 14% and 17% of all motor vehicle accidents every year.

The demographic most likely to cause fatal crashes due to distracted driving is men and women in their 20s.

Drunk Driving Statistics

Back in the 1970s and ‘80s, drunk driving was so prevalent that it was referred to as an epidemic. Although these numbers have decreased substantially over the years (despite the total number of drivers multiplying exponentially), today’s statistics still show that the United States has a serious problem with drunk drivers.

Every day, an estimated 28 people in the United States die in vehicle accidents in which drugs or alcohol played a role. That is one person dying every 52 minutes.

Nearly one third of all car crash fatalities occur over the weekend, as that’s when more people go out drinking.

Today, the overwhelming majority of drunk drivers are men, at a ratio of four males to every one female. Fortunately, ride-sharing applications like Uber and Lyft have begun to steadily decrease the number of drunk drivers on the roads, reducing alcohol-related traffic fatalities by 6.1% and overall traffic fatalities by 4%.

Teen Driving Statistics

The number of licensed drivers below the age of 18 has declined steadily since the 1980s, except for a brief uptick around 2014. For example, in 1983, 46.2% of 16-year-olds held a valid driver license. In 2018, however, that number dropped to only 25.6%—a decrease of 44.6%. 

In other words, roughly half as many teens are on the road today as there were in the early 1980s. Of course, that refers to percentages. The actual raw number of teenage drivers is significantly higher today than it was back then, due simply to population growth.

Fortunately, the data show that teen driving has become far safer since the 1970s. In 1975, nearly 9,000 teens aged 13-19 died in motor vehicle accidents; whereas only 2,476 died in 2018. This number has been steadily decreasing on average every year.

More data from 2018 shows that the majority (63%) of teenagers killed in vehicle accidents were drivers and that teenagers accounted for 7% of the total number of motor vehicle accident fatalities. Here are more statistics related to teenage roadway fatalities:

• 25% of all-terrain vehicle (ATV) rider deaths are teenagers.
• 8% of passenger vehicle occupant deaths are teenagers.
• 7% of bicyclist deaths are teenagers.
• 4% of pedestrian deaths are teenagers.
• 3% of motorcyclist deaths are teenagers.

Random Driving Statistics

Here are a few educational data points that are not quite related to any of the other sections we have in this article:

Men are slightly more likely to drive than women: In 2019 and 2020 94% of male Americans aged 16 years or older drove a vehicle at least occasionally, whereas that number for females in the same demographic was only 94%. However, it is important to note that such a small percentage difference is not significant enough to make any meaningful conclusions about differences between drivers based on gender.

More than half of all road traffic deaths occur among vulnerable road-users. That includes people in the following three categories:

• Pedestrians
• Bicyclists
• Motorcyclists

Drivers in the United States are involved in more road crash deaths than any other high-income country in the world. Specifically, drivers in the United States are involved in 50% more traffic-related deaths than Canada, Australia, Japan, and comparable countries in Western Europe.

The leading cause of death for people between the ages of 1 and 54 years old in the United States is motor vehicle crashes.

Motorcycle Statistics

Motorcycle ownership in the United States has grown significantly over the past two decades. In 2002, there were only 4,320,807 on-road motorcycles with active, valid registrations. By 2021, that number had increased by 98.5%, almost doubling to 8,575,569. The largest single category of these registered on-road motorcycles was cruisers (39.9% of registered motorcycles), followed distantly by touring motorcycles (23.1% of registered motorcycles).

In 2018, 8.02% of all American households owned at least one motorcycle, meaning that roughly 8 out of every 100 homes included a motorcycle.

The most striking statistic is the clear gendered picture that motorcycle ownership paints. According to data from 2018, 81% of motorcycle owners are male whereas only 19% were female.

Bike Statistics

Last but not least, comes our information on bicycle usage in the United States. According to data obtained from government statistics in 2016, around 12.4% of Americans cycle on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, the number of cyclists injured in traffic-related accidents seems to be increasing on average year-by-year. In 2019, approximately 49,000 bicyclists were injured in traffic-related motor vehicle accidents. That was a 4.3% increase from 47,000 in 2018.