Is there anything more dangerous on the road today than a driver with a cell phone in his hand? Not according to mounting data, which has tracked thousands of deaths nationwide and hundreds of injuries in Pennsylvania linked to distracted drivers.

How many times have you glanced down at your phone, even for just several seconds, while speeding down the highway? Whatever the reason behind taking your eyes off the road for that brief period of time, it can feel like a victim-less indulgence.

It’s not. It’s a deadly gamble that killed nearly 3,500 peole in 2015, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Distracted driving fatalities are rising faster than deaths caused by drunk driving, speeding and failing to wear a seat belt.

Perhaps the problem has its roots in a lack of perspective. Three seconds doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but everything is relative. Hop on one of Pennsylvania’s interstates and accelerate up to the 70 mph speed limit. In three seconds you’ve gone more than the length of a football field — effectively blindfolded, if your eyes aren’t on the road.

Meanwhile, despite safer and smarter cars than ever before, 40,200 people died in traffic accidents last year — 14 percent more than in 2014. And Americans are paying more for auto insurance — up 16 percent since 2011 — in part because of the dangerous and foolish game drivers play when they pick up their phone while behind the wheel.

Pennsylvania, which enacted an anti-texting law in 2012, isn’t setting a shining example for anyone to follow when it comes to distracted driving. Citations increased 52 percent statewide between 2014 and 2016, according to data from the state’s court system.

In Butler County citations have jumped from 16 in 2012 to 45 last year — with more than half coming because a police officer observed someone texting while driving.

On one hand it’s good to see officers putting an emphasis on punishing this behavior. But the natural follow-up question is: how effective is Pennsylvania’s anti-texting law given the rise in citations?

The apparent answer is: not very. And that’s worrisome because a way to more effectively deter distracted drivers isn’t apparent.

Advances like self-driving vehicles and smart phone apps that limit or completely block phone calls and text messages while a person is driving are either on their way or already available.

But self-driving cars are years away. And if drivers can’t keep themselves from picking up their phones — nearly 80 percent say it’s “completely unacceptable,” but one in three admitted to doing it in the past month, according to a AAA survey — there’s little reason to believe self-regulation via smartphone apps is a short-term answer.

The bottom line is that drivers here and across the country need to start living up to their responsibilities while behind the wheel.