text: Some may argue that it's okay to text & drive if you have a self driving car (Requires minimal driver's assistance) but numbers don't lie. According to the NHTSA, there was a Tesla fatality every 86 million miles in 2017, which is 40,000 deaths. Now imagine the amount of accidents in cars that don't drive themselves. The National Safety Council reports that cell phone use while driving leads to 1.6 million crashes each year.