Smartphone apps distracting drivers

Fifty-eight percent of young drivers in Britain say smartphone apps contribute to distracted driving among young people, a survey indicates. The survey of 1,000 drivers ages 17 to 25, conducted by One Poll for ingenie, the car insurance brand for young drivers, found more than 40 percent admitted to answering their phones while driving without a hands-free set, 44 percent said they had sent a text message and 62 percent said they had read a message while they were driving. One-in-6 male drivers under age 25 said they crashed due to cellphone usage at the wheel, the survey indicated. One-third of drivers age 25 and under, who access Facebook on their cellphone, admitted doing so while driving. Eighteen percent of drivers 25 and under said they played Draw Something and 17 percent admitted to playing Angry Birds while driving. Fifty-three percent said they made longer calls at the wheel -- longer than 5 minutes -- while using a hands-free cellphone while driving, the survey said. Richard King, chief executive officer and founder of ingenie, said the findings suggest the increasing range of apps is contributing to young driver distraction. "We're in the middle of a perfect storm, where the rapid growth of social media and smart phones creating a new breed of in-car distraction," King said in a statement. "We're increasingly using smartphones to occupy ourselves during down time, but driving is an active pursuit and it really needs our full attention." No survey details were provided.