Do Not Disturb While Driving is potentially one of the easiest ways to reduce distracted driving and save lives on the road. It’s a feature that identifies when you’re driving and blocks incoming notifications. When you stop driving, all the notifications you received while you were driving appear. It works the same way as Apple’s Focus and Sleep features. Do Not Disturb While Driving (DNDWD) is available for iPhones and Androids around the world.

While DNDWD is a great safety feature on paper, it falls short in its execution on both phone platforms. It works great for blocking notifications while you’re driving. But for it to work, you have to activate it — it’s an opt-in feature. You can choose to activate it in a few ways: automatically through Bluetooth, or through a vehicle operating system like Apple’s CarPlay or Google Android Auto.

The challenge with the opt-in model is that DNDWD is buried in the operating systems’ settings. Drivers need to search for it and turn it on. An opt-out model would significantly increase adoption and likely reduce distracted driving.

Last year, we surveyed over 1,000 US drivers to help provide a better understanding of how many people use the opt-in DNDWD feature. What we found was that only 20% used it frequently. Our hope in highlighting this number is that more people activate DNDWD, but also that Apple and Google make it an opt-out feature. 

Awareness and behaviors shift over time, so we conducted another survey of over 1,000 drivers this year to see if any trends emerged.

Do Not Disturb While Driving Awareness  

Awareness in 2024 is about the same as it was in 2023. In 2024, 62% of drivers said they were aware of the DNDWD feature, 1 point lower than 2023. The fact that  general awareness hasn’t changed since last year speaks to the need for more programs like Do Not Disturb While Driving Day — a day designed to increase awareness for the feature. It also speaks to the need for the phone makers and the broader mobility ecosystem to educate drivers on DNDWD.

Awareness among age groups varies significantly. In 2024, 77% of drivers aged 18-29 are aware of the feature, compared to 73% of drivers aged 30-44. Awareness begins to decline in older groups, with 57% of drivers aged 45-60 and only 37% of those 60 and older knowing about it. While we saw similar trends last year, awareness among the older groups has fallen dramatically. In the 45-60 age group, it dropped by 11 points, from 68% to 57%. For people over 60, it fell from 44% to 37%.

Tech savviness tends to decline with age, so it isn’t entirely surprising that an opt-in feature that’s buried in an operating system’s settings has lower awareness among people over 60 years old. However, the drop in awareness for people over 45 is concerning.

When asked how they first learned about DNDWD, 60% of respondents said they discovered it through their smartphone settings or notifications. The fact that the majority of people find DNDWD through their settings underscores the need for more education from the phone makers on how to activate it. Another 24% of drivers said friends or family introduced them to DNDWD. Social media accounted for just 8% of awareness, which shows that the feature isn’t being promoted as widely through these channels.

How Many Drivers Use DNDWD in 2024?

In 2024, more drivers say they use DNDWD frequently, up to 27% from 20% last year. To see such an uptick is good news. But why this is happening is another question. 

As we mentioned before, last year saw the inaugural Do Not Disturb While Driving Day, which could have increased activation rates. Usage-based insurance programs, which incentivize people to drive safely, have surged in adoption rates. This surge could have inspired people to take additional safety measures, like activating DNDWD. We’ve also seen more states introduce hands-free laws, making it illegal for drivers to handle their phones. Perhaps drivers in these states activated DNDWD to prevent risky behaviors before they happen. We’ve also seen a significant increase in distracted driving coverage by the media, and searches for distracted driving have increased over the past year. This heightened awareness for distraction could have led more people to activate DNDWD. While these are plausible theories, we need more research to truly understand why.

Younger drivers are the most likely to use DNDWD, with 44% of drivers aged 18-29 reporting frequent use. This is a massive increase from 2023’s 29% for this age group. For drivers aged 30-44, frequent use is 33%, up from last year’s 25%. The numbers decline further with age: only 19% of drivers aged 45-60 and 13% of drivers over 60 use DNDWD regularly.

These numbers highlight an important trend: younger drivers are more likely to adopt this technology, but as drivers age, their usage decreases significantly. Despite this, older drivers express a growing openness to adopting DNDWD.

Openness to DNDWD Increases with Age

Of the drivers who didn’t use DNDWD, we asked them, now that they’re aware of the feature and its benefits, would they turn it on now? This year’s results are interesting. Last year, willingness to use DNDWD increased with age. But this year, the results look somewhat like a “U”. The youngest and oldest drivers were the most willing, with 42% and 48% saying they’d be willing to activate DNDWD, respectively. The least willing group were the drivers 30-44 years old.

Does DNDWD Make You a Safer Driver?

The majority of drivers who use DNDWD believe it improves their driving safety. In fact, 82% of respondents who use the feature said it has significantly enhanced their overall safety.

The primary motivation for using DNDWD is personal safety, with 60% of drivers citing this as their reason for turning it on. Other top reasons include reducing distractions to focus better on driving (49%) and concerns for the safety of others (42%).

Why Don’t More Drivers Use DNDWD?

Although the benefits are clear, a significant number of drivers still do not use DNDWD. When asked why, 80% of respondents said they were simply unaware of the feature. Other reasons included feeling it’s unnecessary at 20%, 16% say they forget to turn it on, 12% are concerned about missing important calls or messages, and 7% find it inconvenient or complicated to use.

These findings again point to the importance of raising awareness for DNDWD. While usage rates among those who are aware have increased in the past year, we need to expand the pool. It’s clear there’s still work to be done to educate drivers on DNDWD and its ease of use.

What will DNDWD look like in 2025?

DNDWD usage is on the rise, with more drivers adopting it in 2024 than in previous years. Younger drivers are leading the way in terms of usage, but older drivers are showing increased openness to adopting the feature.

With 82% of users reporting that DNDWD makes them safer on the road, expanding awareness and promoting the benefits of DNDWD could help reduce distracted driving and improve road safety for everyone.

As we look ahead to the next year, the question remains: will more drivers make the choice to put down their phones and focus on the road? Time will tell, but the trends are promising.