Best and worst states for distracted driving in 2024

Distracted driving might make for entertaining dashcam videos on social media, but it has increasingly become a deadly problem on America’s roads. Bader Scott Injury Lawyers’ recent study found that distracted driving kills thousands of people each year, but some states see much higher numbers than others.

New Mexico was the worst state in the study, with a final score of 100, and almost 40% of its fatal crashes were caused by distracted driving. The ten worst states for distracted driving include:

New Mexico: 100 Final Score/39.7% fatalities caused by distracted driving
Kansas: 48.01/26.83%
Louisiana: 40.16/17.33%
Kentucky: 37.91/17.2%
New Jersey: 36.36/26.72%
Hawaii: 30.59/21.55%
Idaho: 25.97/16.28%
Texas: 22.48/11.23%
Wyoming: 21.01/8.96%
Washington: 18.8/13.23%

Bader Scott calculated its overall score by examining other factors, including total crash deaths, fatalities by distracted drivers, deaths per 100,000 residents, and distracted drivers per 100,000 licensed drivers. New Mexico took the “top” spot in a few categories, including distracted drivers per 100,000 licensed drivers.

Some states performed much better in the study, with one scoring a zero overall. Rhode Island ranked as the best state for distracted driving, earning the lowest overall score. The ten best states include:

Rhode Island: 0/0%
Connecticut: 3.42/2.23%
Alaska: 4.36/2.44%
Mississippi: 4.74/1.71%
Nevada: 4.97/2.64%
California: 5.65/3.34%
Minnesota: 5.9/4.05%
North Carolina: 5.99/3.01%
New Hampshire: 6.24/4.11%
Iowa: 6.27/3.85%

The law firm looked at data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), and Census Bureau Population figures. It’s important to note that while the distracted driving rankings apply to the 2024 calendar year, Bader Scott’s data from the NHTSA and FHA came from 2022. Overall scores were calculated based on three key indicators: distracted driving fatality percentage (30% weight), number of people killed per 100,000 residents by distracted drivers (35%), and the number of distracted drivers involved per 100,000 licensed drivers in fatal crashes (35%). Those weighted scores drove the final calculations, and states were ranked based on the overall number.