Seventy-Four Percent of Drives by Teens Are Distracted

New data from Life360 uncovers the impact of distracted driving in time for April’s Distracted Driving Awareness Month

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Life360, the leading family safety membership, today released its 2020 Distracted Driving Report just in time for April’s Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Combining app data with survey results, Life360 uncovered that while moms report feeling the most distracted while driving, it’s teens that record the most distracted drives. Hawaii has the most distractions per mile driven, while Wyoming has the least.

“Distracted driving has proven to be a major problem in the U.S., even among the most seasoned drivers,” said Chris Hulls, CEO and founder of Life360. “Through the COVID-19 pandemic, roads have become more dangerous with increased speeding and collisions, making distracted driving behaviors even more hazardous and potentially life threatening. We want to help families stay safe on the road while promoting independence.”

Life360’s Distracted Driving Report showcases family roles, dangers and activities linked to distracted driving. Key findings include:

American families feel distracted behind the wheel — especially moms. More than half (56 percent) of survey respondents report feeling often or sometimes distracted behind the wheel. Moms report feeling the most distracted (65 percent), followed by dads (54 percent), teens (53 percent), and grandparents (49 percent).
But it’s really teens who demonstrate the most distracted driving behaviors. When looking at Life360 app data, nearly three quarters (74 percent) of drives by teens are distracted drives*, compared to only 63 percent of drives by parents. Teens also cautiously rate their own driving abilities lower compared to other age groups. As age increases, self evaluation ratings increase while the rate of distracted drives decreases.
Teens have a higher incidence (nearly two times higher) of collisions during distracted drives, compared to adults. Distracted drives in general are four times more likely to result in a collision. Going hand-in-hand with collisions, distracted drives are also three times more likely to have a speeding event, two times more likely to have a rapid acceleration, and two times more likely to have a hard brake compared to non-distracted drives.
State-by-state, Hawaii logged the most distracted mileage, followed by Louisiana, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York. Wyoming accounted for the least amount of distracted mileage, followed by West Virginia, Vermont, Minnesota and Oregon.
Collisions are linked to technology in the car — especially phones. When looking at Crash Detection occurrences**, a phone event (distraction) was found in 88 percent of those occurrences. Additionally, almost half (46 percent) of survey respondents felt that more technology in the car has made driving more distracting, and of that group, 76 percent said screens (smartphones) were the most distracting piece of technology.
Texting while driving is the most distracting activity. Texting on the phone was ranked the most distracting driving activity, followed by browsing social media, sending emails on the phone, and watching videos.
Teens are most likely to text while driving. Of those who say they text while driving always, frequently or sometimes, it’s more common by daughters and sons (21 percent) compared to moms (17 percent) and dads (13 percent).

As the largest source of driving data in the world leveraging more than 200 billion miles annually, Life360 provides safety insights around driving behavior to better protect family members on the go via location sharing, day-to-day communications, driver updates, emergency response features, and more.

Last year, Life360 made its Crash Detection** feature available free to its U.S. members. Crash Detection by Life360 senses when there has been a serious car accident, so loved ones can react more quickly during those first few critical moments following a car accident and save lives.

Visit www.life360.com to learn more about Life360. The Life360 app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Life360 collected driving data from January 2020 through December 2020. Life360’s survey of 2,700 users was conducted in February 2021.

*Distracted driving is defined as having one or more phone events per drive.

**Crash Detection is enabled when: the vehicle is moving at a sustained speed of at least 25 mph for at least 30 seconds before the collision; the vehicle has come to a complete stop after the collision; user’s phone has more than 20% battery life and not be in power saving mode; the phone’s WiFi settings are turned on; and you are in an area with strong cell phone reception (e.g. Crash Detection does not work in a tunnel). If you’re on a CDMA carrier (including Verizon, Sprint, and US Cellular), cell data doesn’t always work if you are on a phone call. If you’re on a phone call at the time of a car crash, it might not be detected. Even if all the criteria mentioned are met, Life360 may not detect all major collisions due to network outages, algorithm error, availability of GPS location data, sensor error on the mobile device, and crash location outside of a wireless service coverage area among others.

About Life360

Life360 operates a platform for today’s busy families, bringing them closer together while creating a sense of independence by helping them better know, communicate with and protect the people they care about most. The company’s core offering, the Life360 mobile app, is a market leading app for families, with features that range from communications to driving safety and location sharing. Life360 is based in San Francisco and has more than 26 million MAU as at December 2020, located in 195 countries.

Contacts

Tisha Ferraro

Life360@thekeypr.com
(775) 848-8231