Cell phones help us stay connected with one another, and they can essentially make traveling safer because there’s an easy method to call for help in an emergency. Misused, however, cell phones can turn out to be much more dangerous than helpful on the road. Just speaking on a cell phone can be distracting, but texting, which has been accepted as a favored activity by teens and adults everywhere, seems to be far more dangerous.

A driver distracted by reading or typing a text, even with just one hand, has their attention split between the road and the activity of texting, with virtually no speed awareness at all. This has caused countless accidents over the last one or two years, including many deaths. Car and Driver Magazine even did a test in a carefully controlled environment to test reaction times of drivers reading or sending texts, and compared those with the same drivers’ times after becoming drunk. In this experiment, the reaction times were far worse when using the cell phone than after drinking, by a gaping margin.

Why Text Messages Can Be So Perilous

The outcome of this experiment showed that the drivers were focused on the phones and often failed to look up for several seconds to even notice their speed or their immediate surroundings. This led to their automobiles to travel between 90 and over 300 feet further than they did when they needed to stop and were not using phones. The driver who frequently held the phone and texted with both hands also tended to drift in and out of his lane, creating other perils.

Getting Drivers to Look Up

A speed display sign will do no good if the drivers don’t see it, so a driver who simply does not look up can’t benefit from any sort of sign. But a driver looking down at a phone rather than his speed or the street may spot a lit sign, particularly a flashing, lit sign. He may see it out of the corner of his eye far faster than he might see a static sign.

Apart from stressing to people not to use their cell phones while driving, there’s no secret formula to get drivers to look up from their cells and concentrate on the road. Radar traffic signs, though, may be able to help by grabbing a driver’s attention.

A speed feedback sign can help stop distracted driving in your community. Trafficalm.com can help you promote speed awareness and make your streets safer!

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