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February 16, 2012 By Matt Williams
Answer: 17 percent
The percentage has stayed the same for yearly reporting between 2006 and 2010, the most recent data available.
There were 5.4 million "police-reported" crashes in 2010, of which 899,000 involved distracted driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
On Thursday, Feb. 16, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced voluntary guidelines to encourage automobile manufacturers to limit the distraction risk for in-vehicle electronic devices.
"The proposed voluntary guidelines would apply to communications, entertainment, information gathering and navigation devices or functions that are not required to safely operate the vehicle," NHTSA.
The first phase of the distraction guidelines, apparently aimed at the in-car dashboard, include recommendations to: reduce complexity and task length required by the device; limit device operation to one hand only; and restrict so called "visual-manual" activities like text messaging and Web browsing unless the car is stopped and parked.
The NHTSA said it's considering a second phase of guidelines for personal devices such as smartphones that are brought into the car.
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http://www.govtech.com/newsletters/Question-of-the-Day-for-021712.html
So for 17% of the crashes, the US Government will mandate how many million $$'s in changes?
I'm sure this percentage would be much higher if one could consider the number of "non-reported" accidents involving a distracted driver.