The Dangers of Distracted Driving: 5 Phone Apps You Should Never Use While Driving

Every year, about 330,000 car accidents caused by cell phones lead to injury or death. This number makes it clear that distracted driving is a huge problem in the U.S. and that cell phones are one of the biggest contributors to the distracted driving epidemic. Adding to the problem, people are heavily dependent on their cell phones and other mobile devices, making them extremely difficult to put down. To make the device even more tempting, thousands of apps are available to download that entertain us, make life easier, and ultimately add to the list of distractions on the road.

All app usage while driving is dangerous, but the activity and navigation of some apps are more dangerous than others. Many of these apps have made headlines for the potential risk they hold if used while driving. It is important to know the dangers of using your cellphone while on the road, but if your phone does happen to tempt you, it is important to stay off of the dangerous apps. Below are five phone apps you should never use while driving:

1. Snapchat

Snapchat is one of the most popular apps available in the app store today. This app is particularly dangerous because users are addicted to refreshing the app, interacting with friends, and posting photos to their Snap Story. The most dangerous and tempting part of this app is the miles per hour filter that can be applied to a photo. Many people have blamed this app for tempting users, especially teens, to purposefully speed to get higher numbers on the filter. Overall, filming while driving and taking your eyes off the road for more than three seconds will lead to no good.

2. Twitter

Refreshing a Twitter feed is exciting to many. People are obsessed with reading the latest news about celebrities, sports and more. So obsessed that glancing at Twitter while driving is not an uncommon thing. Live tweeting while driving is also not uncommon. Composing a tweet while behind the wheel is equally, if not more dangerous than texting while behind the wheel. Reading through a limitless Twitter feed and hitting your 140 character limit should never be done while driving.

3. Waze

This handy navigation app gives real-time updates on traffic, construction, road hazards, and accidents in your area. At first thought, the app seems like a dream come true to drivers, but after some deliberation, some concerns have risen with Waze. Users are responsible for posting the updates and that is considered a direct distraction. Fiddling with an app to quickly post a roadway update is dangerous and completely takes the driver’s focus away from the road.

4. Pokémon Go

The famous Pokémon Go game made its debut during the summer of 2016. It was a big hit and is still played by many today. This app is a reality game that guides users to virtual characters that are virtually located all over the users surrounding area. To get ahead of the game, many players jump into their cars to collect characters while driving. With one hand on the wheel, the other on the game, and eyes on a phone screen, this game quickly became dangerous to everyone on the road.

5. YouTube

There is nothing quite worse than taking your eyes off the road other than taking your eyes off the road to watch a video. YouTube is home to thousands of videos and it’s easy to get sucked in once you have lost yourself in the list of videos. While watching a video while driving is very dangerous, searching for the video you want to watch takes even more of your attention away from the road. YouTube videos should be saved for when a person has personal downtime – not when they are trying to pass the time while driving.