Dangerous social media trend growing

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Police say more people are guilty of distracted driving. People are posting pictures of trees, sunsets and even other cars on their phones from the road and police say it’s the worst kind of distracted driving.

April is Distracted Driving Awareness month and a hashtag that’s spreading on social media is no joke.

A study from Erie Insurance found that most often people who were using #WhileDriving were posting pictures of clouds, a sunset, the sky and the sun. It also found that states with the most posts using #WhileDriving were first California, followed by Florida and Texas but the study found tweets nationwide.

Pictures and videos were included and the study looked at multiple social media sites like Instagram and twitter were examined.  Erie Insurance reviewed 90 days of data collected from iPhones, iPads and Androids that had their location services turned on.

Public officials warn that this is a very dangerous trend. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that 3,179 people were killed and 431,000 were injured in crashes involving distracted drivers in 2014 alone.  Male drivers apparently like to snap-and-share more often, with 55 percent of the posts coming from men. According to the website distraction.gov, at any time during a given day across America, approximately 660,000 drivers are using cell phones or manipulating electronic devices while driving,

If you’re having trouble putting down the phone in the car this morning as you head out to work, experts say try putting the phone in the trunk or out of reach.