Skip to main content

Smartphone apps creating more distraction for young drivers

Recent survey findings from Ingenie, a UK car insurance brand for young drivers, have revealed that 58 per cent of 17-25 year old drivers agree that smartphone apps are causing young people to be more distracted at the wheel. The company commissioned the survey of 1,000 young drivers, conducted by One Poll, which has uncovered the extent of how smartphones and social media are distracting 17-25 year olds when behind the wheel.
April 30, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Recent survey findings from 5351 Ingenie, a UK car insurance brand for young drivers, have revealed that 58 per cent of 17-25 year old drivers agree that smartphone apps are causing young people to be more distracted at the wheel. The company commissioned the survey of 1,000 young drivers, conducted by One Poll, which has uncovered the extent of how smartphones and social media are distracting 17-25 year olds when behind the wheel.

The survey revealed:

  • Over 40% admitted to answering their phones while driving without a hands-free set
  • 44% said they had sent a text message, and 62% said they had read a message while they were driving
  • 1 in 6 male drivers under 25 has crashed due to mobile phone usage at the wheel
  • One third of under 25s who use Facebook on their phone admitted to using it whilst driving
  • 18% of under 25s who have ‘Draw Something’ on their phone have played the game whilst driving - 17% for Angry Birds
  • Hands-free kits encourage 53% more young drivers to make longer calls at the wheel (longer than five minutes)

The results collected from the survey suggest that the increasing range of apps and functionality available on mobile devices is contributing to young driver distraction - even mobile games, which take a high level of concentration are taking young people's attention away from the roads.

On the growing range of dangerous distractions created by smartphones, Ingenie founder and CEO Richard King said, "We're in the middle of a perfect storm, where the rapid growth of social media and mobile is creating a new breed of in-car distraction.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Trust me, I'm a driverless car
    October 12, 2018
    Developing C/AV technology is the easy bit: now the vehicles need to gain people’s confidence. So does the public feel safe in driverless hands – and how much might they be willing to pay for the privilege? The Venturer consortium’s final user and technology test (Trial 3) explored levels of user trust in scenarios where a connected and autonomous vehicle (C/AV) is interacting with cyclists, pedestrians and other road users on a controlled road network. Trial 3 consisted of experimental runs in the
  • Flashing LEDs may cut ‘distracted walking’ risk
    March 24, 2020
    Flashing LED lights embedded into pavements could improve the safety of pedestrians distracted by their phones, says Australia’s Queensland University of Technology (QUT).
  • Self-driving car safety perspectives
    June 2, 2015
    At yesterday’s Opening Plenary, Chris Urmson’s keynote speech dealt with the reality of driverless cars on our roads. By far and away their greatest benefit to mankind will be the potential to achieve an incredible saving of life and injury on the roads, as Urmson, director of the Google Self-Driving Car program, revealed to delegates. In response to an Associated Press article last month disclosing that self-driving cars have been involved in four accidents in the state of California, Urmson revealed th
  • Convictions up but many still drug-driving
    March 1, 2016
    As the Department for Transport confirms a six-fold increase in the number of people caught drug-driving, a survey by road safety charity Brake and Direct Line Insurance reveals huge numbers of drivers and passengers are still taking dangerous risks when it comes to drugs. The survey indicates that one in 14 drivers, or seven per cent admit they drive at least once a month after having taken drugs.