Smartphone apps creating more distraction

26 April 2012

Recent survey findings from RoadSafe partner ingenie®, the car insurance brand for young drivers, reveal that 58% of 17-25 year old drivers agree that smartphone apps are causing young people to be more distracted at the wheel

ingenie 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 latest ingenie 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 5 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.

ingenie commissioned the survey ahead of its #DontDriveDistracted campaign on Twitter to reduce road crashes related to driver distraction. The campaign launches on Friday 27th April with celebrity supporters Gary Lineker, Omid Djalili and Williams F1 Team driver Bruno Senna – each making a pledge to cut out distracting behaviour behind the wheel. For each person who makes a pledge on Twitter to not drive distracted, ingenie will donate £1 to RoadSafe to be used by RoadSafe to help reduce road deaths and injuries by encouraging innovation for the safe design and use of roads and vehicles.