One in ten takes selfie whilst behind the wheel

Published: 12/08/2015

The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has recently warned that taking a selfie whilst behind the wheel is as dangerous as drink driving. Alarmingly nearly one in ten of the drivers surveyed by the IAM admitted to taking a driving selfie. Even more alarming, particularly taking into account the high number of young people who are injured in a road accident, the survey revealed that 15% of 18-24 year old drivers and 19% of 25-35 year old drivers admitted to taking selfies whilst driving.

Men are more likely to snap themselves behind the wheel with 12% admitting to taking a selfie in the last month compared with 5% of women. And drivers aren’t only using their smartphones for taking selfies – the survey also found that 8% of drivers had used FaceTime or Skype whilst driving whilst 7% had recorded video footage of themselves and 18% had accessed the internet on their phone or tablet whilst driving a vehicle.

Personal injury solicitor, Kevin Smith considers these survey results:

“It staggers me that anyone can consider taking a selfie whilst driving. When you consider that a vehicle could cover 170ft in two seconds at 60mph – about the time a selfie would take and think about how easily a break in concentration can cause road accidents then the danger of this practice is clear.

“There have been countless surveys pointing to the higher proportion of young drivers involved in car accidents and it seems to me that this craze will just add to the numbers of those young people injured in a car accident.”

Content correct at time of publication

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