Distracted driving, an increasingly important concern to safety authorities, continued to account for a large share of traffic deaths last year, the U.S. Department of Transportation reports.
In all, 5,474 people died in 2009 in crashes where distractions, such as using a cell phone, were counted as a factor.
Although the distracted driving fatalities figure was down 6.2% from the year before, officials noted that procedures for counting such deaths were revised over the past year in a way that would produce a lower number. Even so, the distracted driving death tally was up 22.4% from the total in 2005.
What’s more, the figures on distracted driving represent “only the tip of the iceberg because police reports in many states and communities do not routinely document whether distraction was a factor in vehicle crashes,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wrote in an op-ed published in the Orlando Sentinel.
LaHood, who Tuesday kicked off his second national Distracted Driving Summit in Washington, D.C., is the first transportation secretary to aggressively attack the dangers of distracted driving, particularly cell phone calls and texting behind the wheel.
Cell phones were cited as a distraction in crashes that led to 995 deaths last year, according to the Transportation Department report. Distractions also include such activities as eating, talking to a passenger or looking outside.
Traffic fatalities overall last year, as previously reported, totaled 33,808, down 9.7% from the year before.
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