Survey Reveals Social Media, Selfies & Good Looks Distract American Drivers

Brisbane, Australia, August 11, 2015 (Newswire.com) - A recent international survey by Australian law firm, Smith’s Lawyers, has uncovered that the USA is a nation of distracted drivers, with an alarming number of people citing inattention on the road due to selfies, social media and even attractive pedestrians.

The findings, the first in a series of international surveys by Smith’s regarding driver safety, confirmed that social media vanity, including posting Facebook or Twitter updates, was dangerously common, with over 50% percent of all USA respondents admitting to using their mobile phone to text, online chat, use a social media app or even take a selfie while driving in the past six months. A scary statistic when studies suggest texting while driving makes you 23 times more likely to be in an accident.

With over 400,000 Americans being injured in accidents involving distracted drivers each year, there is an alarming trend toward letting social media, the internet, and selfie-taking affect drivers' better judgment. Unfortunately it only takes a split second of driver inattention to have life changing consequences.

Greg Smith, Principle, Smith's Lawyers

While younger drivers were more likely to post a selfie, nearly half of middle aged male drivers admitted to being distracted by attractive pedestrians.

Taking a selfie while driving and uploading it to Instagram, was mostly concentrated among Americans aged between 18 and 24 years (16.5 percent), while middle age and higher income males were the most likely demographic to have been distracted by an attractive pedestrian while driving. In fact, the higher the salary, the more wondering the eyes.

More traditional vanity also makes an appearance in the survey results, with women more likely to report that they put on makeup or otherwise fixed their looks in the car (15.6 percent of those surveyed) while 8.6% of men surveyed admitted shaving or doing their hair.

Managing Director of Smith’s Lawyers, Greg Smith, whose firm helps those affected by at fault drivers, said it was a worrying trend that could impact many lives.

“With over 400,000 Americans being injured in accidents involving distracted drivers each year, there is an alarming trend toward letting social media, the internet, and selfie-taking affect drivers’ better judgment. Unfortunately it only takes a split second of driver inattention to have life changing consequences,” Mr Smith said.

Mr Smith compared the reaction times of those using social media to a drunk driver.

“According to a recent study in the UK*, a car driver on a mobile or smart phone will have roughly the same reaction time as a drunk driver; basically, this means that drivers who text or use social media while in transit are four times more likely to be involved in a car crash than other drivers,”

Comparing these findings to identical surveys that Smith's have run in Australia and the UK, the survey discovered that around 17.5 percent of UK drivers use social media or text/chat messaging while driving, with American drivers more than twice as likely as Brits to allow these activities to impede their concentration.

*UK study by the Transport Research Laboratory regarding driver reaction times http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2652015/Texting-driving-slows-reaction-times-drink-drugs.html