Easter Sunday is a busy travel day, with many drivers making trips between egg hunts, services, brunches, and afternoon gatherings. These unique travel patterns may coincide with higher road risk. According to NHTSA crash data from 2020 to 2023, traffic fatalities are 13.3% higher on Easter than on a typical April day. The increase is even more pronounced for speeding-related deadly crashes, which climb 28.3%.

To understand what’s driving this increase in crash risk, CMT analyzed phone distraction, speeding, and high-speed distraction on Easter from 2023 through 2025, comparing trends to surrounding Sundays. The analysis draws on more than 32 million trips and shows that distraction is elevated by over 8% in the morning, while speeding increases by more than 20% in the afternoon.

CMT defines screen interaction distraction as tapping on a phone while driving above 9 mph, and speeding as driving 9.3 mph over the speed limit for at least 300 feet. High-speed distraction refers to the percentage of total phone motion time that occurs at speeds above 50 mph.

Distraction increases over 8% from 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Phone screen interaction is up 2% overall on Easter, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Distraction builds early in the day. From 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., distraction rises 8.6%, from 1 minute and 29 seconds to 1 minute and 37 seconds per driving hour. These are the hours when families travel to services and gatherings. Elevated distraction levels carry into the early afternoon, up 6.5% at 1:00 p.m., before tapering to a 2.8% increase at 2:00 p.m. By 3:00 p.m., distraction returns to typical Sunday levels.

Speeding surges over 20% in the afternoon 

Speeding tells a different story, building as the day progresses. Overall, speeding is up 8.8% on Easter, with a 12.6% increase in the morning from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The most significant rise occurs in the afternoon, peaking at 1:00 p.m., when speeding is 23.4% above typical levels, increasing from 2 minutes and 11 seconds to 2 minutes and 42 seconds per hour. From 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., speeding remains elevated by 19.1% and continues into the evening, up 7.5% between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., before fluctuating later into the night.

Distracted driving above 50 mph rises over 15% 

We also examined the share of trips involving distracted driving at speeds above 50 mph, capturing one of the highest-risk driving behaviors. Throughout the day, high-speed distraction is elevated. On typical Sundays from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., 9.3% of trips involve phone motion above 50 mph. On Easter, this rises 15.5% to 10.7% of trips. High-speed distraction remains consistently above 10% throughout the afternoon, peaking at 4:00 p.m., when 11.4% of trips involve high-speed distraction — 19% above typical levels.

Distraction increases 183% Easter morning in Downtown Cincinnati

To illustrate how distraction appears at a local level, we analyzed distraction across six blocks in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, on Easter 2025. Cincinnati was recently ranked among the top cities in the US to celebrate Easter.

Using StreetVision, CMT’s AI-powered road safety platform, we focused on a dense downtown area of restaurants, hotels, and churches, locations with increased activity on Easter, and compared results to the four surrounding Sundays.

The analysis shows a significant spike in distraction in the morning, measured as phone tapping events per 100 miles. From 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., phone tapping increases 183%, rising from 44 to 124 events per 100 miles, as people travel to early services and gatherings. In the late morning and early afternoon, distraction remains elevated by 42%, increasing from 70 to 99 events per 100 miles. Distraction then declines by 7% from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., before rising again by 49% at night as drivers head home from gatherings.

Even at the local level, the pattern holds: risk rises during key travel periods on Easter. Staying alert during these times can help ensure everyone gets to and from their celebrations safely.