Smartphone Users Go Beyond Texting To Web Surfing, Video Chats While Driving
May 20, 2015
Smartphone users admit to going beyond texting while driving to a wide variety of smartphone activities according to a new study by AT&T. While cellphone use and texting are still the most common activity that drivers engage in, the AT&T study revealed that 70 percent of drivers engage in other smartphone activities such as taking selfies and even video chatting.
According to the AT&T news website, smartphone activities people say they do while driving include:
- Text (61%)
- Email (33%)
- Surf the net (28%)
- Facebook (27%)
- Snap a selfie/photo (17%)
- Twitter (14%)
- Instagram (14%)
- Shoot a video (12%)
- Snapchat (11%)
- Video chat (10%)
Other unsettling findings include:
- 62% keep their smartphones within easy reach while driving.
- 30% of people who post to Twitter while driving do it “all the time.”
- 22% who access social networks while driving cite addiction as a reason.
- Of those who shoot videos behind the wheel, 27% think they can do it safely while driving.
While AT&T is one of the major cellphone and smartphone marketers in the US, they recognized the dangers of cellphone use and texting while driving years ago. To educate drivers on the dangers of these activities, they launched the “It Can Wait” program in 2010. Their videos present a powerful message on the dangers of texting while driving and the impact those decisions can have on the cellphone user and their family.
As a result of this study, AT&T says it will expand the It Can Wait program to go beyond texting and warn drivers about the dangers of engaging in other types of smartphone activities while driving.
Other studies show that drivers are starting to realize the dangers of texting but, in spite of that awareness, they still seem to think that they are more skilled in the practice and the dangers only apply to other, less skilled drivers. Now it seems that the very dangerous issue of driver distraction is moving beyond texting into even more dangerous distracting activities.