So here’s a question that not many people have thought of: Is texting while driving actually more dangerous than drinking while driving?  I’m sure the initial reaction for most people would be of course not.  After all, we always see commercials displaying the evils of driving after consuming alcohol but there really aren’t many about texting while driving. To help answer this question, Car and Driver Magazine ran road tests in which a simulated break light was attached to a car in order to alert the driver when to stop. The proctor of the test sat in the passenger seat, triggered the break light, and recorded the reaction time of the driver.

Editor of Car and Driver Magazine, Eddie Alterman, as well other a few other very confident drivers were tested under 4 different driving conditions while driving at 70 mph. The first was driving unimpaired. The second was driving while legally drunk. The third was performed while reading an email and the last was performed while texting. So what were the results?

Texting While Driving Road Test

The unimpaired break time was approximately 0.54 seconds. While driving legally drunk, 4 feet were added on to the break distance. When the driver was reading an email 36 feet was added on to the break distance. So what was the breaking distance while sending a text message? A whopping 70 feet was added onto the total breaking distance. This is approximately a quarter of a football field, the width of an Olympic size swimming pool, or approximately 6 car lengths. This could be the distance between breaking safely or getting into a serious accident. People see texting while driving as this innocent activity until they see results like this. It is nearly 20x as dangerous as driving legally drunk.

The stigma attached to drinking while driving creates animosity and the wrongdoer is seen to be at the level of the lowest scum of society.  The stereotype of a person texting while driving is simply a teenager who doesn’t know any better. Now I’m not condoning drinking while driving in anyway, but I think it’s important for us as a society to take a step back and realize that texting while driving is no longer this innocent activity that only teenagers do. This epidemic is spreading to all ages of our society and it’s only a matter of time until it gets out of control. Although states are beginning to ban texting while driving, many, including Florida, have absolutely no restrictions on texting while driving.

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