• Posted July 3, 2025

Teen Drivers Spend A Fifth Of The Time Looking At Their Smartphone, Study Says

About a fifth of the time, a teenage driver is looking at their smartphone rather than the road or their rearview, a new study says.

Teen drivers spend an average 21% of each trip looking at their phone, according to results published today in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention.

Worse, these weren’t quick glances — nearly 27% of the time the drivers focused on their phone for two seconds or longer, a duration that dramatically increases the risk of a crash, researchers said.

Teen drivers most commonly check out their phone for entertainment (65%) or texting (40%), with 30% using the phone’s GPS to help them navigate roads, results showed.

“Distracted driving is a serious public health threat and particularly concerning among young drivers,” lead researcher Rebecca Robbins, an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said in a news release.

“Driving distracted doesn’t just put the driver at risk of injury or death, it puts everyone else on the road in danger of an accident,” Robbins added.

Across the U.S., 35 states have banned all types of phone use for young drivers, researchers said in background notes.

But a previous national study found that nearly 92% of teens still regularly engage in texting, talking or dialing in tunes on their smartphone while behind the wheel, researchers said.

For the new study, researchers quizzed more than 1,100 teenagers about their behaviors and beliefs surrounding smartphone use while driving.

Results show that many young drivers understand bad things can happen when they’re distracted and they're aware that parents and friends wouldn’t like them to engage in distractions while operating a car.

The teens also expressed a strong belief in their own ability to not drive distracted, by using smartphone features like the "Do Not Disturb" function, hands-free modes or phone holders, researchers said.

“We found that while young drivers recognize the advantages of using smartphone features like GPS, they also understand the heightened risk of accidents associated with distracted driving,” Robbins said.

However, teenagers also reported that their friends frequently drive while distracted by their smartphones, indicating that more might fall prey to the temptation than will admit, researchers said.

They recommended crafting message-based promotions to counter false beliefs about smartphone use while driving, such as the notion that phone use behind the wheel allows one to remain productive while in transit.

“Encouraging the use of ‘Do Not Disturb’ mode, keeping phones out of reach and ensuring teens get adequate sleep are effective strategies to mitigate this dangerous behavior,” Robbins added.

More study is needed to better understand why teen drivers use smartphones, researchers added.

More information

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has more on talking and texting while driving.

SOURCE: Mass General Brigham, news release, July 3, 2025