Distracted driving is one of the main traffic risks. This report provides an overview of available data on distracted driving for EU member states and EFTA countries. Moreover, it provides information on the legislation and enforcement and complements the ERSO thematic report on the same topic.
The SPI Distraction in this report is defined as: Percentage of drivers using a handheld mobile device.
In general, data on distracted driving in European countries are scarce and large differences exist in the definition of driver distraction and data collection methods. For this report, data from the ESRA project (survey data) and the Baseline project (roadside observations) are used. Based on these data sources the following conclusions can be reached:
- The percentage of drivers who are holding a mobile phone while driving ranges from 1.7% to 9.4%, based on on-road observations.
- The percentage of drivers that reported having talked on a handheld mobile phone in the past 30 days vary between 12% and 59%. For texting while driving, the percentages vary between 17% and 53%.
- A higher share of drivers talks on a handheld mobile phone than texts.
- Driver distraction is more common among drivers of light goods vehicles compared to cars drivers. Bus/coach drivers are less likely to be distracted than car drivers.
- The younger the driver, the higher the share of talking on the phone and texting.
