Texting while driving reduces driver concentration by 35%

There is a reason why texting and driving is illegal. Yet, on a daily basis there are countless drivers with their phones in their hands or stuck to their ears. It is a fact that an average text sent or read by a driver distracts the person for 5 – 8 seconds, which is plenty time to veer off the road and knock over a passenger or cause a life-threatening accident.

If you still don’t understand the gravity of texting and driving, consider this: A study in 2018 concluded that about 400 000 were injured in accidents caused by drivers distracted by their cellphones. A further 2,800 people were killed as a result of distracted driving.

It is also a fact that drivers between the ages of 18 – 24 are most likely to hold their phones in their hands while their drive because it is second nature – this substantially increases the chance of a life-altering accident.

Arrive Alive compiled these important facts on texting while driving in the hope that motorists think twice before causing harm to themselves and those around them

• According to the National Roads and Motorists Association, text messaging drivers spent up to 400% more time with their eyes on the phone instead of on the road.
• Texting reduces reaction times of drivers.
• The reaction times of texting driver deteriorated by 35%, much worse than those who drank alcohol at the legal limit, who were 12 per cent slower, or those who had taken cannabis, who were 21 per cent slower.
• When texting, you tend to wander across the lane.
• The research found that drivers who sent or read text messages were more prone to drift out of their lane, with steering control by texting drivers 91 per cent poorer than that of drivers devoting their full concentration to the road.
• The Transport Research Laboratory concluded that text messages took on average 63 seconds to compose while the phone owner is driving- compared with 22 seconds when sent from a desk.
• In one minute, a car travels half a mile at town centre speeds and more than a mile on the motorway.
• Texting reduces the ability to maintain a safe following distance from the vehicle in front.

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