Teens vs. Road Hazards: Government's Betting on Phone Training
Published Date: 12/10/2025
Notice
Summary
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is studying how well a quick training program helps new drivers, ages 18-19, spot hazards and stay focused while driving. This research could lead to easy-to-use smartphone training that makes driving safer. Comments on this study are open until January 9, 2026, and there’s no cost to participants.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.
Free novice-driver training study
You can volunteer for a one-time NHTSA research study if you are age 18 or 19 and do not have an unrestricted driver’s license. The study will enroll a total of 168 participants, deliver either a short hazard-anticipation and attention-maintenance training or a placebo on a smartphone-like platform, and assess performance on a computerized driving simulator. Participation is voluntary, there is no cost to participants, and the study may be conducted in the Boston, Massachusetts area.
Time burden and estimated opportunity cost
Taking part requires time: a 5-minute screening questionnaire, an informed-consent phase with an estimated 60-minute round-trip travel plus 10 minutes (70 minutes), and about 240 minutes (4 hours) of study tasks on the day of testing. NHTSA estimates total annual respondent burden of 322 hours and a fully-loaded mean hourly opportunity cost of $40.61, yielding an estimated total annual opportunity cost of about $13,069 for all respondents.
Study findings to inform safety efforts
NHTSA will produce a technical report with descriptive and inferential statistics from this study and share it with State highway safety offices, local governments, policymakers, researchers, educators, advocates, and others. The agency says the research could support future efforts to deliver hazard-anticipation and attention-maintenance training via smartphones.
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