You pick up your car keys, open the car door, put your coffee into the cup holder and start the ignition after checking your mirrors and securing the seat belt.
According to an article in WebMD (June 2017), when you text while driving, your eyes are off of the road for 5 seconds. Since 97.5 % of drivers don’t drive well when they’re on the phone, these statistics indicate that anyone who is texting while driving a car is probably headed for an accident. Additionally, being absorbed in these activities means that your attention is diverted from driving and your reaction time is slower than normal. Therefore, you have a higher crash risk.
ONE IN THREE DRIVERS ADMIT TO TEXTING WHILE DRIVING.
Even if your hands are on the wheel, your attention is not on driving your car. Your attention is on your conversation. Some may say that they are not prone to this idea since they are young and their reaction time is quick. However, thirty-eight percent of drivers using their cell phone during fatal crashes are in their 20’s. Brain scans show that when we are engaged in a phone conversation while driving, our brain does not recognize driving as the more important primary task.
Therefore, your brain is competing for attention. So, for those five seconds, you are giving your full and primary attention to the text message on your phone and not on your driving.
This doesn’t mean to be silent while you are driving. Radio and normal conversations don’t compete for your attention the way that a phone commands.
By the way, notice that the person in this picture always avoids seat belts.
Is it worth a life to divert your attention from driving?
