You’re driving when you get a text message. You ignore it, continuing on for a half-hour until you get to your destination. When you arrive, you find out that you actually have half of a dozen messages. The person who initially texted you is angry that you did not respond for so long.
In today’s world, many people expect an instant response to any text. This puts pressure on people to prioritize the phone over everything else. If you see someone answering a text at the dinner table or during a movie, that’s why.
Unfortunately, this same pressure can influence you to read or send text messages while you drive. You don’t want to let people down. It’s safe enough, right?
Wrong. The truth is that texting behind the wheel increases the chances of a crash by 23 times. Think about that for a moment. If you were twice as likely to crash, you’d probably reconsider. But 23 times? It’s a gargantuan leap and it definitely means you want to keep the phone in your pocket while you drive. In fact, it may be best to just turn your phone off completely. This way, you don’t have any temptation. Just turn it back on when you get out of the car.
Of course, deciding to do this yourself is only half of the battle. It does help keep you safe, but you have to know that other drivers around you are still texting. Make sure you know how to seek compensation if they hit you and you wind up in the hospital.
