There are a lot of dangerous behaviors you can engage in when you’re behind a moving car’s wheel.
For instance, you might ingest alcohol before you drive or while you’re driving. You can get in road rage incidents or tailgate the car in front of you.
All of those are dangerous activities, but texting while driving is one of the worst things you can do.
We’ll talk about a few of the reasons why in the following article.
You’re Taking Your Eyes Off the Road
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration studies auto wrecks. They say that it takes five seconds to read a text.
Sending one also takes that long, though it might take you longer to do either if you’re composing a longer text or reading one.
In five seconds, if you’re traveling on the highway and going 55 miles per hour, that means your eyes are off the road for an entire football field’s length.
Stop and consider that for a moment. Think about how much road conditions ahead of you can change when you’re driving across an entire football field.
During that time, a car ahead of you might slam on the brakes suddenly.
They might do that to keep from hitting another vehicle that stopped ahead of them. They might slam down on the brakes to stop from hitting a human or animal that’s crossing the road.
A car ahead of you might skid or stall. No matter what happens in front of you, though, you need to have your eyes looking toward the front, and you need your peripheral vision as well.
You won’t have any of that if you allow a text to distract you, and you might face disastrous results if you do this one time too many.
You Can Use Voice-Activated Texting Now
Voice-assisted texting exists now with many newer car models, so there is no reason to take your hands off the wheel if you need to send someone a message.
You can direct Siri or whatever other voice assist feature you have to send the person you choose a message. Ideally, you should avoid this behavior as well.
The NHTSA still feels like sending a text with your voice instead of your hands can distract you since you have to think about composing the message before you send it.
That can still take your focus off of driving.
Still, if you must send a text urgently, there is no longer any reason to do that by hand if you can use your voice instead.
You Probably Don’t Have Anything Urgent to Say
Let’s face it: most text messages are not all that important, either.
Maybe you’re talking to a friend about a TV show you both like, or you’re arguing with a parent about something.
The topics that come up via most text messages are not worth you losing your life or taking someone else’s.
Again, if you have some topic that you need to talk about urgently, you can do that if you have a voice assist feature.
Otherwise, you can wait till you get where you’re going, and the text chain in which you’re engaged can wait as well.
You Can Pull Over to Text if You Must
Maybe a genuine emergency comes up, and you can’t wait to get to your destination to talk to someone.
If so, you can pull the car over at the next convenient spot instead of trying to take your hands away from the wheel to text.
You can probably find a roadside turnoff, someone’s driveway, a parking lot, or a gas station.
There, you can park, turn off the car, and text or call the person with whom you need to speak
If you have to talk to them that badly, this is a much more responsible way to do it.
You Don’t Want a Ticket
Because so many individuals have killed themselves or others in texting accidents over the past few years, many cities and states have cracked down on this behavior like never before.
They know that if they impose steep fines against people who want to do this, that can convince them to change their ways.
If you text and drive, you might face a several-hundred-dollar fine. You might even have to pay more than that if this is not the first violation a cop gives you for that reason.
There’s no point in paying for this kind of behavior when you could easily wait and text when you get to your destination.
There are more crucial reasons not to text and drive than financial considerations, but those might play a part in you stopping this behavior as well.
Safe Driving Means No Distractions
Texting is one of the worst things you can do while you drive, but watch out for any other distracting behavior as well.
It could lead to many things, even a cvc 21453 red light ticket.
Try not to daydream while driving, as you need to pay attention to the traffic, cyclists, and pedestrians around you in real-time.
Make sure not to pay too much attention to any billboards you pass.
Watch out for stop signs and speed limit changes. Stay ready for an individual who might hit the brakes ahead of you suddenly.
The longer you have your driver’s license, and the more you’re on the road, the more most of these behaviors should become second nature to you.
You can even choose to turn your phone off or put it on vibrate while you’re driving to keep yourself from texting or looking at texts.
If the chime doesn’t sound to tell you that you have a new message, you should not feel a strong urge to look at it.
If you have kids, you can also set a good example for them this way. They will see that you never text and drive, and you can point it out to them.
They should take that to heart and follow the behavior when they become licensed drivers one day.