Report: Checking Facebook ‘Most Likely Mobile Phone Activity’ to Cause Car Accidents

Browsing Facebook while driving is the “most likely mobile phone activity to result in an accident,” while three percent of accidents were caused by people streaming movies behind the wheel, according to a recent UK report.

The report also discovered that around three million posts are made to social media by drivers in the UK every week.

“In wake of harsher penalties being introduced this month for mobile phone usage when driving, the findings also revealed that a third of guilty Britons (28 per cent) admit to checking their social media from behind the wheel, in spite of the new laws,” reported The Grimsby Telegraph. “The study, commissioned by MORE TH>N to mark its new ‘Give Your Mobile the Boot’ initiative, found almost two million Snapchats, Instagram pictures and WhatsApp messages are sent and checked by motorists each week as they drive.”

“One in five (18 pe cent) of the 3,000 motorists surveyed owned up to using their mobile behind the wheel,” they continued. “Of those admitting to using their smartphones while driving, the study found that the use of messaging apps such as texting and WhatsApp (51 per cent) topped the list of the most common means of using the phone by drivers, followed closely by making of phone calls (44 per cent), and streaming videos from YouTube and TV shows from the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime (9 per cent).”

At the top of the list for caused accidents was “browsing Facebook” at 19 percent. 11 percent of accidents were caused by motorists checking their emails, and taking a phone call, browsing Instagram, and texting all took 8 percent each.

3 percent of accidents were caused by the driver streaming a movie behind the wheel, while another 3 percent was caused by internet banking on the move.

“Perhaps more worryingly, the research revealed that 9 per cent of people are so gripped by the latest BBC drama or Netflix binge-watch that they admit to streaming an average of 2.5 hours video content per week from the driver’s seat,” The Grimsby Telegraph explained. “This could mean that approximately 1,943,360 hours’ worth of video footage is being watched behind the wheel on a weekly basis when people should be focusing on the road, posing an inconceivable amount of risk to both themselves and others.”

Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington or like his page at Facebook.