The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released a new 30-second video aimed at scaring the hell out of folks who text and drive.
The PSA entitled “Manifesto” features a carload of younger adults riding, laughing and discussing a crossword puzzle. The driver hears the familiar ding of a text notification and looks down, if only briefly, to see what it says. While doing so she completely misses a stop sign:
After unwittingly running the stop sign the vehicle is violently plowed over by a truck and is sent flipping down a deserted street. In the aftermath of the horrific accident an officer picks up the cell phone in question and says to the camera, “Nobody likes to be stopped by the police. But if I’d seen her texting while driving, I’m giving her a ticket. It just might have saved her life.”
Highlighting the dangers, a study from distraction.gov found that the average time a driver has his/her eyes off the road while texting is five seconds. If you’re cruising at 55 mph – this would equal going the distance of a football field blindfolded.
Yahoo noted a study from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute which found that approximately 25% of teen drivers respond to a text at least once every time they get behind the wheel.
One thing you can do to help prevent giving into the temptation is to get an app like AT&T’s DriveMode which automatically sends a customizable auto-reply message to incoming texts, letting your friends know you’re behind the wheel and will reply when it’s safe.
