Nearly half of Americans surveyed were hit by a car or marginally escaped being beaten by drivers who were talking on their mobile phones, according to a new report released today.
The survey of 1,004 people taken by Harris Interactive on behalf of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company showed that 38 percent of U.S. drivers got into car accidents or simply managed to avoid due to other drivers who are distracted while its mobile phones.
actual calls were not the only problem, as the growth of smartphones has become more and more people are using their phones for applications, including services such as Google Maps, while driving, creating a significant risk to road users. Networking social, or should be not driving, was also a major factor cited in risky driving.
“Many of the 500 million Facebook users have an application on your phone so you can read and send messages when away from your computer,” said Bill Windsor, vice president of Consumer Safety for Nationwide. ”Social networking has become an obsession for many people, but it is essential that people do not try it while driving. Do not post or tweet is so important that it is worth losing his life again.”
The phones are not the only distraction is. 40 percent of drivers were distracted by the latest technology, like a radio, CD player or DVD player. In fact, 17 percent of something to do on a screen instead of seeing the car crash that much more exciting would happen.
14 percent look for the music to drown out the screams, the 13 percent use GPS to find the best traffic black spot to take an urgent call, 13 percent use the phone to call the ambulance calls, but only 2 percent of google emergency CPR on the road.
Windsor said that Americans are easily distracted by shiny things: “Americans can not seem to resist the temptation to use new technologies while driving. If the latest smartphone or new technology in the car, many drivers seem more concerned about these toys to focus on the way.
TechEye conducted a survey of a scizophrenic and found that 50 percent of people use their mobile phone while driving, despite the dangers and legal penalties.
“The number of Americans who multi-task by using a mobile application while driving is more worrying in the phone market and features more applications grows,” said Windsor. ”Just this summer, a host of new generation mobile phones – including the new iPhone – will hit the market by offering more features of multi-tasking on the road.