Distraction Doesn’t Have an Age Limit

By Michelle Marsh, Contributing Author

Distracted driving is usually talked about like a “young driver” issue. Or, depending on who’s telling the story, an “older driver” issue. 

But when you look closer at crash reporting and listen to what observers see on the road, that storyline falls apart, because distraction is a behavior that cuts across age, race, gender, experience and routine—a reality worth underscoring during National Work Zone Awareness Week. 

A “distraction-affected crash” is simply one where investigators determine the driver was distracted at the time of the crash, and the consequences aren’t theoretical. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports distracted driving killed 3,275 people in 2023.

Texting is singled out as especially dangerous because it pulls your eyes off the road. The NHTSA notes that reading or sending a text takes about 5 seconds, which at 55 mph is like traveling the length of a football field “with your eyes closed.” 

And that risk doesn’t belong to just one generation.

Across Adult Ages

NHTSA’s research makes the “it’s just young drivers” (or “it’s just older drivers”) story hard to defend once you see the distribution. 

Across all drivers involved in fatal traffic crashes in 2023, 5% were reported as distracted. And when you look by age, the pattern is a spread with the highest share among 15–20-year-old drivers (7%), but the next three adult bands—21–24, 25–34 and 35–44—are each at 6%. From there, distraction settles into a steady baseline: 45–54, 55–64, 65–74 and 75 and older are each at 5%. 

Yes — newer drivers show up slightly higher. But the bigger takeaway is that distraction is present in every adult age range involved in fatal crashes. It’s a behavior that follows people into the car regardless of age.

Phone Use

Distraction is broader than phones, but phones are one of the few behaviors we can observe at scale. 

In its National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS), NHTSA reported that 2.1% of passenger-vehicle drivers were holding phones to their ears in 2023. NHTSA also observed 0.5% of drivers speaking with visible headsets and 3.0% visibly manipulating handheld devices (for example, interacting with a phone/tablet) during an average daylight moment. Because NOPUS captures observed handheld behaviors, NHTSA also provides a broader estimate of total phone use, estimating that 6.4% of drivers were using some type of phone (handheld or hands-free) during a typical daylight moment in 2023. 

And older drivers aren’t “exempt” even if their observed rates are lower. NHTSA observed 0.7% of drivers age 70 and over holding phones to their ears and 0.6% visibly manipulating devices.  

Work Zones Raise the Cost of Distraction

Work zones compress space and time as lanes shift, sightlines tighten and the “normal” rhythm of the road disappears. That means there’s less room for recovery if a driver drifts, and fewer safe options for crews when a vehicle enters the workspace.

For the crews building and operating the work zone, the goal is to assume distraction will happen and design for it:

• Build the zone correctly, every time: advance warning, transition area, buffer, workspace and termination.
• Treat the pre-job safety briefing as the first control: identify the hazards you expect (speed, queues, sightline issues, access points), then assign who is watching traffic and who is protected. 
• Reinforce AWP Safety’s “cardinal” approach: hazard assessment, proper traffic control PPE and a qualified traffic observer. Early detection and disciplined setups are the key to work zone safety.

The point is to acknowledge what the data keeps showing: that distraction is everywhere. The safest work zones are the ones planned and operated with that reality in mind, so the system can hold even when attention fails.

Michelle Marsh is senior vice president of environmental, health & safety (EHS) at AWP Safety, where she leads the company’s EHS program and advances safety culture through technology and data analytics.