Teen drivers spend 21% of their time looking at their phones

An alarming new study finds that some teen drivers in the United States spend up to 21% of their time behind the wheel looking at their phones, creating a significant risk of distracted driving accidents.

While much of this was short glances, more than 5% of their driving time involved looking at their phone for longer than two seconds at a time, long enough to be classified as dangerous.

CNET Reports indicate that the teens did this despite understanding the risks they were exposed to.

The study includes survey responses from 1,126 teen drivers in all four U.S. regions, along with in-depth interviews with a smaller group of high school students. Most participants perceived distracted driving to be unsafe and believed their parents and peers disapproved of this behavior.

The explanation for this disconnect is the normalization of behavior, as most teens say their friends do.

While 30% of screen time was devoted to navigation, this was actually a smaller percentage from messaging (40%) and using entertainment apps (65%).

Apple has taken a number of measures to reduce these risks, including the “Do Not Disturb While Driving” feature that was first introduced in iOS 11. A study conducted by an insurance company found that 70% of iPhone owners used this feature.

However, the teens didn’t seem to get the memo.

The study’s lead author, Dr. Rebecca Robbins of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said interventions should aim to change social norms while also focusing on practical steps, such as enabling Do Not Disturb mode and physically disconnecting drivers from their devices.

“Distracted driving represents a serious threat to public health, especially among young drivers,” Robbins said. “Driving while distracted not only puts the driver at risk of injury or death, but everyone else on the road at risk of an accident.”

Take 9to5Mac

Reckless driving resulting from smartphone use has been responsible for some truly horrific accidents, with innocent victims killed and seriously injured, and the drivers responsible serving long prison sentences.

If you are a parent of teen drivers, you may want to show them the videos below to help them understand the enormous risks involved. The last of the three is particularly powerful.

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Image: Framegrab from NHTSA safety video