Despite increasingly harsh penalties, the number of UK motorists who admit to taking calls and sending text messages while on the road has tripled in a year, rising from 8 per cent to 28 per cent and 11 per cent to 31 per cent respectively.
More worrying, over a third (39 per cent) of UK motorists admit to being distracted by calls, texts and social media applications on their mobile phones while they are driving, according to new research figures released today by the motoring organisation, the RAC.
Commenting on the findings, Adrian Tink, RAC motoring strategist said: "It's extremely concerning that the use of mobile phones for texting and calling has risen in the past year. It is also worrying that people are admitting to using their phone for a whole host of social media applications while driving."
"Taking your eye off the road, just for a second, to read an alert or check who a call came from can have potentially fatal results. This steep rise in mobile phone usage at the wheel could potentially be set to continue as more and more people embrace smartphone technology." Article