Study finds teens speed more than 30% of the time when driving

Teenagers are engaging in risky driving behaviors, according to new research, highlighting opportunities for targeted interventions that address the concerning trends.

The research, presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference and Exhibition, studied driving habits that are associated with adolescent motor vehicle crashes — a leading cause of youth death and disability.

“Our data gives us another insight into teen driving behaviors. Teens were speeding and using their cellphone while driving, but it did not occur in every trip. We want to encourage safe driving and find ways to help prevent those risky driving behaviors that can lead to a crash,” Catherine McDonald, PhD, RN, FAAN, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and co-director of the PENN Injury Science Center, said in a press release.

For the study, McDonald and colleagues analyzed data from drivers aged 16 to 18 years in Pennsylvania who downloaded a smartphone application called Way to Drive, which provides insight into driving behaviors that are usually difficult to measure. The researchers used 8 weeks of data collection, with a minimum of 50 trips, to “describe trip-level variation” in metrics the app passively collects, like:

• trip length;
• kinematic risky driving (KRD) such as hard braking and acceleration;
• speeding;
• handheld cellphone use; and
• nighttime driving.

Of the 79 teenagers included in the study, the mean age was 17.4 years, 85% were white and 28% were male. Together, the participants recorded more than 11,000 trips that totaled nearly 70,000 miles — individually about 185 trips at 15.9 minutes per trip.

Overall, nighttime driving accounted for fewer than 2% of trips, and speeding while using a cellphone occurred in 5.2% of trips. Separately, nearly 30% of trips included cellphone use and 37.3% included speeding. More than half — 55.9% — of the trips included KRD events at a rate of 26.5 events per 100 miles.

The researchers did not find any significant differences by sex when it came to speeding and cellphone use. However, boys were more likely to take nighttime trips (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 2.96; 1.76-4.96) and had increased incidence of KRD events (IRR = 1.58; 1.12-2.24) and KRD events while using their cellphones (IRR = 2.65; 1.36-5.14).

“Given the rapidly changing technology in the daily life of adolescents, this study also builds on previous research and helps to identify patterns related to cellphone use while driving among adolescents,” McDonald said in the release. “Behavioral variations in this sample highlight opportunities for targeted interventions on risky driving.”

References:

• McDonald C, et al. Using a novel smartphone telematic app to measure adolescent driving behaviors. Presented at: American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference & Exhibition; Oct. 7-11, 2022; Anaheim.
• Teen drivers often unsafe on the road with speeding and handheld cellphone use. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/966482. Published Oct. 7, 2022. Accessed Oct. 11, 2022.