Sending A Text Behind The Wheel Is Like Driving Blindfolded Across A Football Field

huffingtonpost.com

If you look at your phone for just four seconds when you’re behind the wheel, it’s like driving the equivalent of more than 100 yards while blindfolded.

That’s essentially the length of a football field.

Gary Lowry, an insurance manager at the American Automobile Association, cited the number — which has been floated before — in an interview Monday with Local 24 News in Memphis, Tennessee. 

“If you’re driving 55 [miles per hour] and you’re texting and driving, the average text takes four seconds — that’s equivalent of driving 125 yards blindfolded,” Lowry said.

The actual number from that math is a bit lower — more like 108 yards — but that’s splitting hairs. There is absolutely no question that your smartphone is a major safety threat if you use it in your car, not just for you as a driver but anyone else near you on the road.

One-third of drivers admitted to texting while driving in a recent survey, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that at least eight people are killed in a distracted driving-related accident every day in the U.S.