Countless schemes have attempted to stop people texting while driving, but none have gone quite as far as public shaming, until now.

Facebook’s manager of communication design has had enough of drivers endangering lives so has taken to plastering their photos on large advertising billboards around San Francisco.

"I've been blown away by the number of people texting while in traffic, on the freeway," Brian Singer told gadget site Gizmodo. "For every nose picker, there's 20 texters. Unofficial estimation by me."

100m blind

At any one moment, approximately 660,000 drivers in the US are using their mobile phones or another electronic device while driving, a figure that has remained unchanged since 2010, according to data from National Occupant Protection Use Survey.

Twit Spotting an iPhone user. Photograph:Brian Singer/Twit Spotting Photograph: Brian Singer/Twit Spotting

Textingand driving is dangerous as it removes a driver’s attention from the road, and is as illegal California as it is in the UK, carrying a maximum fine of $190 in the state.

The average driving texter has their eyes off the road for 4.6 seconds, which at speeds of 55mph equates to traveling the length of football pitch (100m) without looking at the road, according to research by Virginia Tech Transportation Institute.

Californian police have initiated a crackdown on distracted drivers, but not to the extent of those in New York who have deployed unmarked SUVs to catch drivers in the act. It is also now common practice for insurance investigators to request mobile phone logs for accidents, with around 80% of vehicular accidents in the US involve driver