More People Posting Pics While Driving

April 15--An Erie Insurance analysis shows that drivers could be using cell phones and other mobile devices for more than talking and texting behind the wheel.

The company analyzed recent Twitter and Instagram posts from mobile devices using the popular hashtag #whiledriving. The postings strongly suggest that drivers are snapping photos of scenery and posting them to social media while operating vehicles.

It's a kind of distracted driving that Erie Insurance dubs "double distracted," meaning they're snapping a photo and posting it while driving, said Doug Smith, Erie Insurance senior vice president of personal lines.

Drivers using their phones on the road might be "triple distracted," according to a 2013 Erie Insurance study of forms of distracted driving that lead to highway fatalities.

"One of the most dangerous distractions is using your phone, which is actually engaging in three forms of distraction -- manual, using your phone rather than keeping your hands on the wheel; visual, or looking at the phone or sunset rather than the car before you; and cognitive," or taking your mind off driving, Smith said.

Distracted driving, including texting, talking, eating and reading behind the wheel, accounted for 3,179 highway deaths and 431,000 injuries in 2014, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Taking and posting a photo could take attention away from the road even longer than texting.

"These hashtags are not going to benefit from the prefill that smart phones sometimes do," Smith said. "And coming up with relatively witty hashtags and checking the pictures before uploading is going to take time."

April is national Distracted Driving Awareness Month, meant to encourage drivers to keep their eyes on the road. And that means pulling off the road for photo ops, Smith said.

The top 10 hashtags used with #whiledriving were: 1. clouds, 2. sunset, 3. sky, 4. nature, 5. sun, 6. nofilter, 7. landscape, 8. car, 9. driving, 10. selfie.

VALERIE MYERS can be reached at 878-1913 or by e-mail. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNmyers.

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