
Frequency of the word “selfie” in the English language has increased by 17,000 percent in the past year, according to Oxford Dictionaries, which crowned the narcissistic love child of cellphone cameras and social media “Word of the Year 2013” on Monday. But it’s the rising frequency of selfies snapped from the wheel that concerns another venerable organization, AAA, the group formerly known as the American Automobile Association.
“Selfies are a relatively new phenomenon so we don’t have [traffic accident] data specifically related to selfies, but we do know any use of cellphones increases crash risk,” Sharon Gilmartin, a AAA analyst for traffic safety policy, told NBC News.