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9% of drivers have taken a ‘selfie’ behind the wheel in the last month

That’s the finding of new research by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), which asked 500 drivers how they use their smartphones and tablets in the car.

The results show that 9% of drivers admitted to taking a selfie while driving ‘in the last month’. This increases to 15% of young drivers aged 18-24 and 19% of 25-35 year olds. Only 5% of women say they have taken a selfie while driving compared to 12% of men.

A total of 8% of drivers admitted to driving while using a video-calling application such as FaceTime and Skype to make and receive video calls, rising to 16% among 18 to 24 year olds.

An IAM study in 2012 showed that using a smartphone while driving is more dangerous than driving at the legal alcohol limit or when using cannabis. Drivers have much slower reaction times, difficulty staying in the same lane and are less able to adapt to even slowly changing circumstances.

IAM’s chief executive officer, Sarah Sillars said: “Everyone knows how dangerous using a smartphone or tablet is while driving. That’s why it’s shocking to see new trends like taking selfies and making video calls becoming common practice.  

“Safe driving is everyone’s responsibility and more must be done to catch drivers using these devices dangerously by increasing the fines and points for smartphone and tablet use at the wheel – there is simply no excuse.

“Campaigns must also be introduced that raise awareness of the prevalence of the issue in society and make this behaviour socially unacceptable as drink-driving”.

Other findings include:

7% of drivers admit to watching videos and stream catch-up television on the road, rising to 13% of drivers aged 18-24 and 15% of 25-32 year olds.

18% of drivers have accessed the internet using their smartphone or tablet, rising to 27% of drivers aged 18-24 and 34% of drivers aged 25-34.

Despite this, the number of drivers given penalty points for using a smartphone at the wheel fell by more than 40% in 2014.

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Natalie Middleton

Natalie has worked as a fleet journalist for over 20 years, previously as assistant editor on the former Company Car magazine before joining Fleet World in 2006. Prior to this, she worked on a range of B2B titles, including Insurance Age and Insurance Day.