Last fall, a 17-year-old driver in Maine caused a 10-vehicle accident when she drove through a red light. According to police, the teen driver never noticed the light was red because—you guessed it—she was looking at her cellphone.

Luckily no one died in that accident. But the incident is part of a larger epidemic that is most certainly killing people on America’s roads. Even as cars themselves are becoming safer thanks to better technology and design, the rise of smartphones has been correlated to higher rates of road accidents and traffic fatalities, insurance experts say. Last year 40,200 people died in traffic accidents, an increase of 14% over 2014.Now auto insurers are jacking up premiums on drivers in response to the increase in collisions.

More accidents equate to higher costs for insurance companies, and insurers pass along these costs to customers. The Boston Globe reports that insurers plan on increasing auto premiums 3% to 6% on Massachusetts drivers this year, on top of increases of 6% to 9% in 2016. Insurers in North Carolina, meanwhile, have requested auto premium hikes averaging 13.8%, according to the Charlotte Observer. Drivers in neighboring South Carolina saw their auto insurance rates increase an average of 8.9% last year.

The increase smartphone usage behind the wheel is a significant reason behind the rising rates. “I would characterize distracted driving as a big factor,” Massachusetts Division of Insurance spokesman Chris Goetcheus told the Globe. “It’s resulting in more accidents out on the road.”

“Distracted driving was always there, but it just intensified as more applications for the smartphones became available,” said Bill Caldwell, executive vice president of property and casualty at Horace Mann Insurance, to the Wall Street Journal recently. The insurer plans on hiking auto insurance premiums an average of 8% this year on top of a 6.5% hike last year.

Young people appear to be disproportionately responsible for fatal road crashes involving a distracted driver—i.e. someone who might have been texting, scrolling through Snapchat messages, or using a navigation system. “Young drivers (age 16 to 24) have been observed manipulating electronic devices at higher rates than older drivers,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports, noting that 10% of drivers ages 15 to 19 involved in fatal crashes were distracted behind the wheel.