Posted: 7/6/2025 12:12:34 PM EDT
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https://www.newsmax.com/health/health-news/teens-driving-smartphone/2025/07/03/id/1217456/ 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. |
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Instead of speed limiting devices, vehicles should have cell phone limiting devices. A soon a you reach 15 mph, the phone should not respond, except for 911 communications. One day I passed a car that was having troubles staying in their lane and holding a steady speed, the guy had a cell phone in each hand, and was looking up number on one phone and dialing that number on the other phone. He jumped about 3 inches out of the driver seat when I honked at him thru the open window. When driving, I assume everyone is oblivious to anything beyond their fingertips. |
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I wish it were just teens. I’m a high attention driver, assuming every vehicle I pass is the stupidest human on planet earth & they’re trying to kill me. I would estimate 40% of the people I pass are on their phone to some degree with 10% so engrossed they literally never look up the entire time I’m watching them. Teens, grown men in work trucks, government employees, semi drivers, Amish in their buggies, housewives. Everyone. It’s terrifying. |
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Quoted: And people still ask me why, after 42 years of motorcycling, I gave it up. |
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Quoted: And people still ask me why, after 42 years of motorcycling, I gave it up. Sold mine not long after iPhones/Android debuted. Way way too many idiots who think their phone is more important than not killing or maiming someone. A friend of mine got his back broken by a girl whose phone rang, and she had to drop everything to answer it. |
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Quoted: Instead of speed limiting devices, vehicles should have cell phone limiting devices. A soon a you reach 15 mph, the phone should not respond, except for 911 communications. One day I passed a car that was having troubles staying in their lane and holding a steady speed, the guy had a cell phone in each hand, and was looking up number on one phone and dialing that number on the other phone. He jumped about 3 inches out of the driver seat when I honked at him thru the open window. When driving, I assume everyone is oblivious to anything beyond their fingertips. Car, bus, and train passengers would not be a fan of this. |
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Quoted: GPS is different, as long as you have a good mounting solution that keeps it at or very near your forward field of vision so you don’t have to look down at it. If you don’t have one, get a head unit with CarPlay/AndroidAuto. Total game changer. I would never even consider buying a vehicle that didn’t support it, unless it was an old-school vehicle I could swap in a standard double-din aftermarket head unit. |
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Quoted: I wish it were just teens. I'm a high attention driver, assuming every vehicle I pass is the stupidest human on planet earth & they're trying to kill me. I would estimate 40% of the people I pass are on their phone to some degree with 10% so engrossed they literally never look up the entire time I'm watching them. Teens, grown men in work trucks, government employees, semi drivers, Amish in their buggies, housewives. Everyone. It's terrifying. |
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At 60mph a lot can happen in 2 seconds We have iPads in our work trucks that we have to use to do our jobs but we don’t have to use them while we drive. GPS can be set before driving, phones can be laid down before driving, food can be eaten before driving, etc. Almost every drive cam event we have is some dumbass using their iPad, fumbling with their gps, trying to use their phone, etc. The rest of the dash cam events are usually of evasive driving because the other driver was doing one of those. |
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Quoted: Car, bus, and train passengers would not be a fan of this. The device would be in/at the drivers seat. I became an adult before cell phones were a thing, mine spends 99.8% of its time in my pocket, or desk drawer. The kids at work bring it with them into the restroom and get germs all over it. |
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They have special training.  |
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Double standards don't just exist in politics. If I'm driving and the wife is in the car, if I even glance at the phone, she rightfully chastises me. She immediately checks her phone for every text and email, will return a text, and I have caught her playing some kind of game at a traffic light. . |
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Quoted: False. Some people have common sense. Often when I am driving with others they ask if I am mad at something. No, I am not mad, I am driving and paying attention- not to the conversation in the vehicle. ETA- yeah I have a vehicle now with steering wheel controls and all that crap connected- no dice. Same distraction. |
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They’re the only ones perfesh’nul enough. 
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Quoted: Its not just teens. Everyone is on their phones constantly while driving. Attached File 21% sounds low. It's more like 40% around here. People just cruise the highway watching Netflix and surfing Instagram. 
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Quoted: Instead of speed limiting devices, vehicles should have cell phone limiting devices. A soon a you reach 15 mph, the phone should not respond, except for 911 communications. One day I passed a car that was having troubles staying in their lane and holding a steady speed, the guy had a cell phone in each hand, and was looking up number on one phone and dialing that number on the other phone. He jumped about 3 inches out of the driver seat when I honked at him thru the open window. When driving, I assume everyone is oblivious to anything beyond their fingertips. Yes. We definitely need more laws and regulations and even more government expansion. Govern us harder king! |
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Quoted: I hate .gov intervention. This is the one instance I would agree, vehicles need a cell defeat device, once the trans is in gear. |
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Over 3,000 traffic fatalities occurs every year due to distracted driving. I'm guessing that cell phone use contributes to a big percentage of those deaths. How many murders where a criminal uses a rifle? Around 400. How many using the evil AR-15? An average of 17. But of course we need to ban the deadly 'assault rifles.'  |
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I think that applies to way more than just teens, from what I've seen. I swear I'm the only person around here that doesn't fuck with their phone while driving. Only exception to that would be if I'm using navigation, which is extremely rare. I got a text? Gonna have to wait until I get to my destination. Someone calls? Gonna have to wait until I get to my destination. I don't sync my phone to my car either. |
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Quoted: If you don’t have one, get a head unit with CarPlay/AndroidAuto. Total game changer. I would never even consider buying a vehicle that didn’t support it, unless it was an old-school vehicle I could swap in a standard double-din aftermarket head unit. Quoted: Quoted: GPS is different, as long as you have a good mounting solution that keeps it at or very near your forward field of vision so you don’t have to look down at it. If you don’t have one, get a head unit with CarPlay/AndroidAuto. Total game changer. I would never even consider buying a vehicle that didn’t support it, unless it was an old-school vehicle I could swap in a standard double-din aftermarket head unit. Yeah, the 2022 Tacoma doesn't have CarPlay. I have it mounted on a gooseneck MagSafe holder that puts it right about where the display screen is. On my motorcycle, I have a strap with a MagSafe magnet on my left forearm... sort of like the Predator control gauntlet.  A regular bike mount can damage the camera, so I don't risk it. |
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Quoted: They have special training. Ooopss  Dashcam Captures Moment SUV Crashes Into Tulsa Police Car |
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Quoted: Its not just teens. Everyone is on their phones constantly while driving. Yep. I work 3rd shift and see a hell of a lot of drivers on their phones when driving while I'm on my way into work in the evening. I pass a lot of drivers on the right because they left lane camp while texting/watching videos. Hard to mistake that glow of the screen at night. |
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Quoted: I’ve already been rear ended by kids on phones at lights a few times. My last truck took a pretty decent hit to the rear bumper by a girl texting while driving. Demolished the front of her Camry. I was surprised that she told the cop that responded to the call that she was texting. |
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Quoted: Yep. I work 3rd shift and see a hell of a lot of drivers on their phones when driving while I'm on my way into work in the evening. I pass a lot of drivers on the right because they left lane camp while texting/watching videos. Hard to mistake that glow of the screen at night. |