Don’t stream up your drive...

Streaming live videos of oneself is now easy with available apps on smart phones. The possibilities are endless, from enabling friends and relatives across the world to witness all you want to share.

But this fad is becoming dangerous because everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame, live streaming is incredibly popular today. With millions of live streams happening all around, unfortunately the number of youngsters using it while driving is increasing.

A 20-year-old engineering student was killed in a road accident in Chinchwad area on early Sunday morning, the alarming part is that he was live on Instagram seconds before the accident took place, police officials said.

His cousin, who was in the passenger’s seat, was broadcasting the drive on social network when the accident happened. The video shows the youngster smiling and the car’s speedometer displaying the vehicle speeding at above 120km per hour. The young driver is seen not wearing a seat belt.

In a fraction of a second, the car hit a light post and crashed into a supporting concrete pole built on the divider inside the grade separator located in Morwadi, Chinchwad. The front of the car got completely damaged, killing the driver instantly and critically injuring his 18-year-old cousin.

The distractions – be it tiredness, drinking, eating or smoking – can be dangerous but streaming while driving is the worst of them all. Technically, it is a criminal offence to use mobile phone while driving. Laws prevent operation of a mobile phone be it making or receiving a phone call, or using it for navigation but youngsters pay little heed to it. Another issue with these apps is that they have the facilitiy for people to comment on the stream and for the streamer to respond to those comments, which is yet another distraction.

We spoke to a few youngsters about the issue.

PIC FOR REPRESENTATIONAL PURPOSE ONLY