KING

A man was looking at his Blackberry PDA and didn't notice that traffic had stopped in front of him.

SEATTLE - One look down at a Blackberry PDA and next thing you know, there was a five-car pile-up Tuesday morning on the Interstate 5 express lanes in Seattle.

The Washington State Patrol said a 53-year-old Mercer Island man driving a Dodge Caravan was looking at the Blackberry instead of the road so he failed to notice that the Mazda in front of him had stopped because of congestion.

The State Patrol said he crashed into the Mazda, pushing it into a Honda Civic in front of it. That car struck a Toyota SUV. The Civic was pushed into another lane, where it hit a bus.

There were no other injuries.

The driver was ticketed for following too closely.

The incident caused traffic back-ups in the express lanes and on the main line.

State officials said Wednesday that "driving while distracted" has joined drinking and speeding as some of the top causes of traffic accidents.

Statistics on 57,000 vehicle collision during the first six months of 2006 show that drunken driving, drug use and excessive speeds contributed to 92.5 percent of collisions in the state.

But state officials also have started tracking accidents caused by any of 12 driver distractions, such as using handheld computers and cell phones, that account for the remaining 7.5 percent.

"Most of our collisions are caused by inattention," patrol spokesman Jeff Merrill said.

The state's study found that the top four driving distractions were those outside the vehicle, unknown driver distractions, miscellaneous distractions inside the vehicle and interacting with "passengers, animals or objects in the vehicle." At No. 5 was operating a handheld communications device, such as a cell phone or a Blackberry.

Other distractions on the list include using a handsfree telecommunications device, operating things such as a laptop computer, and at No. 12, driver grooming.

Cell phones are a common distraction noticed by state police, said Merrill, who sees similar problems with a Blackberry.

"This is a very dangerous pastime," he said.

Safety experts are concerned at the dangers presented by distracted drivers.

"Anytime you take your eyes off the road, that can be a bad thing. Nothing good can come from that," said Mark Medalen, a spokesman for the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. The commission has pushed in recent years for a law against distracted driving that would ban talking on a cell phone.

Laws banning use of handheld cell phones are in place in Washington, D.C., and states including Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. Washington lawmakers for the past two years have considered passing their own.