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New Data from Root Insurance Shows Americans Spend 11% of Drive Time on Phones, with Gen Z Twice as Distracted as Baby Boomers

By: Root, Inc. via GlobeNewswire

April 30, 2025 at 14:00 PM EDT

COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 30, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Root Insurance, a technology-driven personal car insurance carrier and subsidiary of Root, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROOT), today released its 2025 Focused Driving Report in recognition of National Distracted Driving Awareness Month. Using real-world driving data, the report sheds light on one of the most dangerous behaviors behind the wheel. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, distracted driving claims more than 3,200 lives in the U.S. every year.

Root, known for its modern data science approach to car insurance, offers rates primarily based on how people drive. The company analyzed more than 1.3 billion miles of driving data from across the country. The findings reveal that, on average, U.S. drivers are distracted by their phones for nearly 11 out of every 100 miles driven, or 11% of the time. Additionally, Root surveyed 500 drivers nationwide to better understand what’s pulling their attention from the road and what they’re doing to stay focused in the driver’s seat.

Read the 2025 Focused Driving Report at joinroot.com/2025-focused-driving-report.

“Phone use behind the wheel remains one of the most common and preventable risks on the road,” said Matt Bonakdarpour, President and Chief Technology Officer at Root Insurance. “Distracted driving doesn’t just put the driver at risk, it endangers everyone around them and often creates a ripple effect of other unsafe behaviors, such as hard braking and sharp turns. Our data makes it clear that phone use while driving is still a major issue, and staying focused is one of the simplest ways to make the roads safer for everyone.”

Findings from Root’s data analysis include:

Geographic Differences
- Oregon, Washington, and West Virginia were the most focused states.
- Louisiana, Mississippi, and Illinois ranked as the most distracted.
- Portland, Oregon, topped the list of most focused metros (8.74%).
- New Orleans, Louisiana, was the most distracted (15.20%), with drivers picking up their phones nearly 7 more times per 100 miles than those in Portland.
Generational Divide
- Gen Z drivers use their phones nearly twice as often (14.78%) as Baby Boomers (6.34%) while driving.
Early Morning Focus
- 5:00 a.m. is the least distracted hour of the day (7.16%).
- 7:00 p.m. saw the highest rates of phone use behind the wheel (11.65%).

Survey Insights:

86% of drivers cited texting while driving as the most common phone-based distraction, followed by social media use (77%) and handheld phone calls (75%).
Nearly half (46%) admitted to a close call or accident while distracted; 60% of them reported changing their driving behavior afterward.
13% of drivers admitted to using social media while driving. Among those, Facebook was the most commonly used app at 64%, followed by Instagram & TikTok at 61%.
Encouragingly, 72% of respondents said they’d be less likely to use their phones while driving if their insurance rate reflected their focus behind the wheel—a model Root uses to reward safe driving behavior.

The 2025 Focused Driving Report, which uses driving data collected from January to December of 2024, offers a data-driven look at distracted driving trends across the U.S. to raise awareness and encourage safer habits behind the wheel.

Privacy Commitment:
Root is committed to protecting driver privacy, and data security is a core part of its business. The company only collects data from users who enable permissions through the app, and it does not sell user driving information.

About Root, Inc.
Founded in 2015 and based in Columbus, Ohio, Root, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROOT) is the parent company of Root Insurance Company. Root is revolutionizing insurance through data science and technology to provide consumers a personalized, easy, and fair experience. The Root app has more than 15 million app downloads and has collected more than 31 billion miles of driving data to inform their insurance offerings.

For further information on Root, visit root.com.

Contact:
press@root.com