CLOSE your eyes, and count five seconds. Open them. That's the average amount of time motorists take their eyes off the road while texting.
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Think of what could happen in five seconds while you're driving 100km/h or faster down a busy highway with your eyes shut.
Lives lost, families forever marred by moments of distraction.
The latest statistics suggest the toll is likely to get worse. Research indicates distraction causes about one in five car collisions and the majority of truck collisions.
Another study found a quarter of Australian drivers admit to using their phone while driving.
There's a lot of technology already out there aimed at curbing distracted driving. Most new cars are equipped with software that allows drivers to make phone calls, dictate texts and use apps hand-free.
But all this distracted driving technology has a big limitation: You can turn it on, or turn it off.
A phone manufacturer that automatically blocks text without giving the user a say-so runs the risk of users taking their business to other phone makers. Should the federal government mandate such technology? No.
What to do in the meantime? That's easy — the public should stigmatise texting while driving, making it as unacceptable as smoking in front of a baby.
There was a time when drinking and driving didn’t carry a social stigma. ‘Designated driver’ was a phrase that didn't exist in our lexicon.
The justice system slapped the wrists of drunken drivers much more often than it jailed them. That has changed dramatically.
Public service campaigns emphasised perils of drinking and driving: Friends don't let friends drink and drive, etc, etc. Even beer bottles and advertisements now remind people to “drink responsibly”.
Drunken driving remains a scourge, but alcohol-related traffic deaths have dropped dramatically since the early 1980s.
The same societal sea change needs to happen with texting while driving. Stiffer penalties would send a stronger message. Saturating the web and airwaves with public awareness campaigns can certainly help.
The next time you're behind the wheel and an incoming text pings, stop and think of what a difference five seconds can make, to your life or the life of someone else on the road.
Stop and think. And then stop.
