Survey reveals the dangers of mobile email

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Despite the obvious risks and stupidity of sending a text of email while you should be concentrating on other things, many Americans send and receive messages on smartphones in dangerous situations.

According to a survey released today, 77 per cent have used such a device while driving, despite reports that previously suggested such use was falling.

The results, which are likely to mirror the UK, revealed that almost 41 per cent used a mobile email device such as a BlackBerry while skiing, on horseback or riding a bike. The survey was commissioned by disaster recovery software maker Neverfail.

The survey said the proportion of the corporate work force using company-supplied mobile devices will grow to nearly 40 per cent by 2010 from just under 25 per cent now.

In the economic crisis workers may feel squeezed and under pressure to use their mobile devices even more, said Michael Osterman, president of Osterman Research, which conducted the survey.

"People are going to have to do more than they are doing now," he said. "As people get laid off, the responsibilities of the company don't go away, but the people to do the work do."

Also, 11 per cent of respondents said they have used such a device during a romantic moment, and 79 per cent said they have used one in the bathroom, it said.

Eighteen percent have used one during a wedding, 16 per cent during a funeral or memorial service and 37 per cent during a school or university graduation ceremony, it said.

A survey last year by AAA, the US motorists association, found nearly half of US teenagers sent text messages while driving.

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