Teenage Drivers’ Lives Endangered By Distracting Nature Of Navigation And Music Apps

The dangers of texting while driving are common knowledge by now, but smartphone distraction isn't the only thing that jeopardizes the lives of drivers. A new research found that navigation and music apps also provide enough distraction that could endanger the lives of inexperienced teenage drivers.

The study, which was conducted by Liberty Mutual Insurance and SADD, or Students Against Destructive Decisions, found that 68 percent of teenagers use navigation, music, and social media apps while driving, PRNewswire reported. The proportion of teens admitting to texting while driving is much lower at 27 percent.

Almost all of the teenagers surveyed by the study consider app usage while driving is dangerous, but this doesn't deter them from the habit. In the study, 41 percent of teens think using navigation apps on the road endangers and distracts them, but 58 percent of the youngsters still use them while driving.

That is also the case with music app usage. Sixty-four percent of teens believe that using music apps while driving is dangerous or distracting, but 46 percent of them still use them while they're behind the wheel.

Dr. William Horrey, a principal research scientist at the Liberty Mutual Insurance Research Institute for Safety, said that accidents can happen even with just a few seconds of distraction behind the wheel. He noted that it's not the apps that are dangerous, but how teenagers use them while driving.

Though navigation apps such as Google Maps and Waze are created solely for guiding drivers on the road, the technology still poses great risks. The apps can still distract drivers and if caught, guilty individuals would have to pay a fine and teenagers' license can be confiscated for up to a year, according to the Ipswich Chronicle.

Massachusetts's Executive Office of Public Safety and Security's Highway Safety Division advised drivers to turn off their phones and put them out of their reach while they're behind the wheel, and to tell their families and friends that they'll be on the road and can't answer calls and texts. When it's really necessary, drivers should pull over to a safe location to call or text someone. For navigation apps users, they advise drivers to start them or review maps prior to driving.

A study published on ScienceDirect found that even hands-free phones are dangerous while driving. This is because the lack of a physical vision of who you're talking to is replaced by your brain creating visual imagery. That visual imagery undermines the scene that drivers see in front of them on the road.