Stay Away from “Driving Selfies”

The Oxford Dictionaries recently announced that the word of the year for 2013 is “selfie.” The term is used to describe a photograph that has been taken by oneself, usually with a smart phone. Selfies are normally posted on social media websites. However, it is interesting to note a new emerging trend of people taking selfies while driving, or at the wheel.

In fact,a search of Instagram finds more than 3,700 posts, filed under the tag “driving selfie,” while more than 1,869 photographs have been tagged “driving selfies.” More than 9,700 selfies have been tagged “driving to work.” Even a search on Twitter generates hundreds of images for the hashtag “driving selfie.”

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that when a person is taking a selfie while driving, he is definitely increasing his risk of being involved in an accident. Taking your selfies involves using the hand to hold the phone in place, and looking into the lens while you are also driving the car at the same time.

The Department of Transportation estimates that more than 3,000 people are killed every year in distracted driving-related accidents. Those include accidents that are caused by persons using cell phones while driving. Unfortunately, the practice of using cell phones at the wheel has evolved from simply using these phones to have conversations and text while driving, to performing a myriad plethora of activities while driving. Motorists can now use their smart phones to surf the web, send and receive e-mails, look for directions, make restaurant reservations, and now with the growing popularity of mobile-commerce, even browse for products and shop on their smart phones.

None of these are practices that you should be indulging in while you’re at the wheel.