Tom’s Towing’s Experts on the Risks of Texting While Driving

You probably won’t find it surprising when we will tell you that smartphones have taken over our lives, considering we spend the majority of the day with our face staring at the screen. Therefore, it is also not surprising that smartphones have found their way into our driving routine, and even if most of us won’t like to admit it – we have all done it at one time or another. We have all sneaked a look or two at our smartphone while we should have been keeping our eyes on the road. We read almost every text we receive and even text back, just because we tell ourselves we have just received a very important message – but is that always true? Is there any type of massage that could be more important than our life? And even though we know it may not affect your driving behavior when we strongly recommend you to always keep your eyes on the road, we still wanted to take a few minutes to talk about the risks of texting while driving.

The Most Dangerous of Them All

Studies have already shown that texting while driving is the most dangerous type of distraction. A driver who texts while driving is about 23 times more likely to become involved in a car accident, compared with a driver who doesn’t text. In fact, 18% of all car crash related injuries were caused by distracted driving, or in other words, a texting driver.

If You Text – You Don’t Drive

No, it is not another slogan. This sentence should be regarded as an iron rule you must follow. Texting is a distraction that affects multiple aspects of your driving. The most obvious is that you take your eyes off the road, which is already dangerous on its own. But even if you just glimpse a few times at your smartphone while driving, your attention is not focused on the road or your vehicle, but rather on the text you’re sending or even the attempt to finish typing the text as quickly as possible in order to get your eyes back on the road. Either way, the last thing on your mind at those moments – is driving. And it is not only about driving or steering your car – it’s about your surroundings – other cars you may get into an accident with, pedestrians and kids running in the street you might hurt – those should all be on your mind when driving – not the “what’s up?” text you’ve just received from your friend.

What We All Need to Understand

What we all need to understand is that there is no text on earth (or even not from earth) that’s worth risking our life or the life of others for. So, it is time to start separating those two things – driving and texting. When you get in your car, get it in your mind that you now have the responsibility not only for your own life but for others as well, put the cellphone aside and if you really have to talk to someone and it can’t wait – call them and use hands-free speakerphone.

Texting or not, if you have gotten into an emergency, don’t hesitate to contact us at (650) 240-2154.