Drivemode is an app that is supposed to make smartphone apps easier to use while driving
The results of the most recent DriveMode study reveal that in one hour of driving time the average American driver:
- spends 7.46 minutes, or 12% of their driving time, talking on their mobile phone
- spends 31.92 seconds sending and listening to messages (hands-free)
- spends 44.63 minutes, or 74% of their driving time listening to music through a phone
- changes music to a previous or subsequent song 9 times, which is every 6 minutes and 40 seconds.
- changes music volume 2 times
- receives 5 messages and sends one message (hands-free)
- sends 49.1% of messages via SMS, 23.8% of messages via Whatsapp and 20.3% via Facebook
- listens to music through Spotify 30.4% of the time, followed by Google Music 27% of the time
- drives 19.06 miles at 45 miles per hour
Including over 2.7 million anonymized Android users in the United States, Drivemode’s data analysis spans January 1, 2018 through April 30, 2019 and covers over 167 million miles driven and 13.3 million hours of driving time. For the purposes of this study and to eliminate outlier data, driving trends are analyzed and averaged between the hours of 7am and 7pm, when people are most active behind the wheel.
Drivemode users are inherently more likely to use technology in the car because they are using the app’s driving-optimized interface precisely for the purpose of managing messaging, music, and navigation. Therefore, the study focuses on technology usage trends for an average driver that has access to their favorite or most necessary apps, safely optimized for driving.
People in Chicago talk a lot—
While driving, Chicagoans talk 10.99% longer than the rest of the country and 22.57% of their calls are over ten minutes long. Around 20% of drivers’ calls in St. Louis, Philadelphia, and Atlanta are also over ten minutes long.