• Messages, calls, driving directions… The French are more and more addicted to their smartphones.

    According to the Axa Prevention of Behavior on the Road barometer published on Tuesday, April 5, 80% of motorists use their phone while driving.

  • However, using your phone while driving is not without consequences: fine, withdrawal of points on the driving license, road accident...

  • Some motorists, who responded to our call for testimonials on the use of the telephone while driving, tell us that they have already taken big risks.

All speedsters?

On April 5, Axa Prévention unveiled its 18th barometer of the behavior of French people on the road, and some figures are not very optimistic… In addition to the increase in speeding in the city, motorists are 80% using their phone while driving .

A record, and an increase of 11 points compared to last year (69%).

The uses are multiple: 52% make calls, 45% use their GPS, 34% read or write SMS, 24% look at their notifications, 15% check their e-mails, 8% publish

stories

on social networks and 6 % participate in work meetings... In view of these figures, we asked our readers if they considered, for their safety and that of others, to drop their phone while driving.

Spoiler alert

: the road is still long for some motorists.

“I use it absolutely all the time, without any particular need… It's like a drug”, confides Antoine, addicted to his smartphone.

Nicolas, he blames the speed limits: “I ended up getting into the habit of using my phone to fill the low speed on the roads.

I've already had points deducted, but I still continue to call, because the lower the speed, the longer the road, and the more busy you have to be behind the wheel.

“Thomas also admits to using his smartphone to “kill time”: “I use my phone while driving to browse the networks, make my professional and personal calls, check my emails, my appointments.

For me, the car is a waste of time, because we are stuck (…).

I'm aware that's not smart of me, but I keep going,

because I have never had a fine, nor caused an accident.

»

Others weren't so lucky.

This is the case of Karl, verbalized several times and having even caused a minor accident while filming himself at the wheel singing on the social network Snapchat.

“When I drive, I consult the Internet to read an article about a subject heard on the radio, to check my e-mails and reply to them or to converse by messages.

Sometimes I even watch a video, but obviously distractedly.

I know it's not prudent, but my mind is constantly in demand of solicitations, it's stronger than me.

The fines and accidents will therefore have had no effect on the behavior of the driver.

"I think I'm too optimistic, I always tell myself that everything will be fine and then, I'm not afraid of sanctions," he explains.

when reason prevails

Other motorists have already ventured to use their smartphone while driving, but very quickly stopped.

This is the case of Emmanuelle who, as soon as she got her driving licence, “tried like everyone else to type an SMS”.

But after three words, “I had already arrived on the left side of the road… Fortunately, no one in front”.

Since then, the driver prefers to answer a call when she has arrived [at her destination], when she finds a place to park.

Or, she directly asks her daughters to take the call when they drive her.

Gérard also admits to having read his text messages a few times while driving, a very long time ago.

He was even verbalized for that, more than fifteen years ago.

Today, his car is equipped with a system that announces his text messages to him on the GPS screen, and allows him to respond orally.

Also a biker, he never uses his smartphone while riding, although his helmet allows him to.

Caution is the mother of safety

“The phone while driving?

Far too dangerous.

I have a hands-free kit.

It can wait, and if it's an emergency, I park.

Like Karine, some motorists say they are careful behind the wheel and are offended by those who dare to defy the law.

“The severity with regard to its mobile phone users while driving should be accentuated and repressed without care,” says Gilles.

An opinion shared by Roland, who deplores "the plethora of screens in current cars, which necessarily divert attention to the settings".

Rémi doesn't understand this mania for doing “everything and anything while driving” either.

“If 100% of drivers limited themselves to their driving, there would be so many fewer accidents…” Because, yes, the use of the telephone while driving, which is strictly prohibited, multiplies the risk of an accident by three.

Worse still, reading a message forces the driver to look away from the road for an average of five seconds, thus multiplying the risk of an accident by 23.

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