More and more drivers are using smartphone apps such as Periscope to broadcast themselves while driving – but experts say that streaming while behind the wheel is potentially lethal.

Streaming – broadcasting a live video of yourself online typically via smartphone – is becoming increasingly popular across the world. Using apps such as Ustream, Periscope and Facebook’s Livestream, everyone is getting in on the act whether they’re celebs feeding the insatiable appetites of their fans or normal folk who want to get noticed or simply entertain their friends, family and followers.

So popular is live streaming that one of the most successful streaming apps, Periscope, has been used for 200 million broadcasts since its launch in 2015 with 100 million broadcasts made in the past three months alone. But there’s a problem – a percentage of that number is made up of motorists who want to broadcast what they’re doing when behind the wheel.

Everyone from celebs to the general public are seemingly at it – from Lewis Hamilton causing controversy with his Snapchat video selfie while riding a Harley Davidson across New Zealand to the bewildering case of a 23-year-old woman in Florida who was arrested for drink driving; the woman was caught because she decided to live stream herself (link contains strong language) while at the wheel, declaring that she was “drunk” and driving with a flat tyre. After Periscope users notified the police, the authorities finally managed to locate, stop and arrest the woman by identifying key local landmarks spotted in her broadcast.

While an extreme case, it has highlighted an issue that the police in the UK are growing increasingly concerned about. One serving police sergeant, ‘Neil’, has recently launched the #dontstreamanddrive campaign, highlighting the many serious issues associated with streaming while driving. He told the BBC: “Some people who I’ve observed [online] are into the social media celebrity status and they want to be popular. In some cases they’re singing, doing little performances [behind the wheel] … You can see them reading the comments – you can see their eyes are off the road.”

And it’s the issue of performing and reading viewers’ comments while at the wheel which concerns Neil the most. Even if not physically interacting with the mobile, he believes that streamers should be prosecuted for driving without due care and attention, dangerous driving and more. The official line from the Department for Transport on the issue is that if you don’t keep your eyes on the road, then you could be banned from driving.

To combat the streaming/driving issue, Neil regularly passes saved live streaming videos of UK driver to the police and in some cases, contacts the streamers directly via Twitter to try and educate them about the risks they are taking with their own lives and other road users’. It’s an approach that can often work, though being on receiving end of abuse is something that Neil has grown used to.

Ultimately, research has shown time and again that using a mobile while driving is dangerous:

  • 75% increase in frequency of hard braking events when handheld; 20% when hands-free.
  • In 2014, 21 fatal accidents and 84 serious accidents were attributed to mobile phone usage while driving.
  • Government is considering increasing the fine from £100 to £150 while boosting the number of points you receive.

Perhaps though it will take the introduction of specific anti-streaming legislation to stamp out what could become an increasingly large problem on our roads – or more worryingly, a ‘trend’.

I know that every right-thinking person would want to reduce the number of deaths on our roads. Ironically every streaming driver I have seen would probably say the same. We need to bridge the gap between the mindset and the behaviour. We need to get the message out there now, nice and early, to current and future live-streamers that streaming and driving is massively dangerous and must not be done.”

– Neil, #dontstreamanddrive campaign blog.

Image © Jim Makos