Contact: Shane Austin
saustin@saferoads.org
202.425.2776
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
To Commemorate Distracted Driving Awareness Month, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) Releases List of State and Federal Actions Needed to Reduce Distracted Driving-Related Deaths
(Washington, D.C. | March 31, 2025) “Distracted driving is a threat most of us witness daily on our roadways. April’s Distracted Driving Awareness Month is a crucial reminder that awareness alone isn’t enough. Without action, we will continue to experience thousands of people being killed and hundreds of thousands being injured each year in distraction-related motor vehicle crashes. Proven solutions are available and must be implemented now to keep all road users safe.” Cathy Chase, President, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
On the federal side, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) should:
- Retain the Final Rule on automatic emergency braking (AEB) for new passenger vehicles in 2029.
- The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found AEB systems in passenger vehicles reduce front-to-rear crashes by 50 percent, and AEB with pedestrian detection decreases pedestrian crashes by 27 percent.
- Finish the rulemaking process to require AEB on trucks. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) was issued on July 6, 2023, and our comments can be found here.
- The IIHS found that forward collision warning and AEB systems reduce the rate of front-to-rear crashes per mile traveled of large trucks by 44% and 41%, respectively. A key benefit, beyond preventing crashes, is mitigating the crashes that do happen. Among front-to-rear crashes of trucks in which these technologies intervened (issued a warning or braked automatically), speed was reduced by about 50%, on average, between intervention and impact.
- Issue minimum performance standards for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) including lane departure warning (LDW) and lane keeping assist (LKA) as required by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).
- IIHS research found that vehicles with LDW had significantly lower involvement rates in crashes of all severities (18%), in those with injuries (24%), and in those with fatalities (86%).
- Finalize the rule to require impaired driving prevention technology on all new vehicles as required by the BIL, which also has the potential to detect and prevent distracted driving. The Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) was issued on December 12, 2023, and our comments can be found here.
- The IIHS determined that once this technology is widespread, over 10,00 lives could be saved annually.
As recommended in Advocates’ 2025 Roadmap to Safety report, in addition to laws banning texting while driving, needed action on the state level includes:
- Three (3) states need to enact an optimal all-driver text messaging restriction law:
- Missouri, Montana, Nebraska
- 22 states need to add optimal cell phone restrictions for novice teen and young adult drivers as part of their graduated driver licensing (GDL) program:
- Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wyoming
- Upgrade current distracted driving laws to prohibit distracted viewing like FaceTime, videoconferencing and movie streaming.
- Elevate all traffic safety laws subject to secondary enforcement to primary.
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About Advocates
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety is an alliance of consumer, medical, public health, law enforcement and safety groups and insurance companies and agents working together to make America’s roads safer. Advocates’ mission is the adoption of federal and state laws, policies and programs that prevent motor vehicle crashes, save lives, reduce injuries, and contain costs.