text: Not only does this distraction of cellphones while driving kill, but its costing a fortune of money that doesn't help our economy. "Distracted Driving and Its Economic Impact Highway crashes cost $871 billion a year - $277 billion in physical damage and another $594 billion in "societal harm," such as traffic congestion and lost productivity, according to the agency." Our country is trillions of dollars in debt and this doesn't help. Over one and half trillion dollars is because of distracted drivers.