Distracted driving is a dangerous activity that continues to claim lives on roadways throughout the United States. A goal of this research was to collect distracted driving behavior data through observation in the field. A methodological approach was devised to keep data collection consistent across the observation periods. Analysis of the data provided information regarding trends in distraction type or driving behavior while engaging in a secondary activity. In combination with the observational portion of this research, another key component to understanding distracted driving was the crash report narrative key word search. By searching through the crash reports, it was determined which key words have high discriminating powers that indicate distraction was a key component to a crash. Additionally, the key word search demonstrated how accurately distraction related crashes are reported via the crash report form. This research contributed to the existing literature regarding distracted driving and also expanded the methods of research that are currently in use
