Driving with tefillin
Question
Is one allowed to drive a car to shul and back while wearing tefillin or is it Hesech HaDaat since a driver is supposed to concentrate on the road?
Answer
Shalom!
Thank you for your question.
It is permitted to drive while wearing Tefillin, and in most cases, there will not be a concern of “Hesech Ha-daas” – removing one’s mind from Tefillin.
It is permitted to do mundane work while wearing Tefillin, such as driving. As long as one can be minimally focused on the Tefillin and fear of Heaven one can do most routine activities while wearing Tefillin.
Therefore, based on this, it would depend. If one has already been driving for some time, it would not take his mind off the tefillin. However, if someone is, for example, a new driver, then since he is fully concentrating on his driving, there would be an issue of hesech ha-daas, and therefore he should not wear the Tefillin when driving.
Source
OC 28 and commentaries.