Texting while driving: Courier crashes his van (VIDEO)

Most of us have done it, but that doesn’t make it any less dangerous. Texting while driving ranks among the primary causes of daily motor vehicle crashes.

In a video shared on X, a driver from a courier company is seen blatantly texting while driving, resulting in him crashing the van. Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt and was able to get out of the vehicle.

The price of using a cellphone while driving! pic.twitter.com/Il5EgMbALp

— Vehicle Trackers (@VehicleTrackerz) April 24, 2024

What happens when we text and drive?

Texting while driving is one of the main distractions for drivers. According to Arrive Alive, it’s one of the leading causes of single vehicle accidents in South Africa.

On average, reading a text and responding while driving can distract you for approximately nine seconds. That’s a significant amount of time to divert your attention from the road.

South Africa, known for having one of the highest road accident rates globally, sees 25% of these accidents attributed to texting and driving, according to the International Transport Forum’s (ITF) Road Safety Annual Report.

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Shocking high numbers of people admit to texting and driving

This behaviour increase the likelihood of causing an accident by 23 times compared to driving without distractions. If a driver spends five seconds looking down at their phone before an accident occurs, the distance travelled on a highway in that time is roughly equivalent to the length of a rugby field.

Despite the awareness that texting while driving is illegal and hazardous, 21% of drivers still engage in this behaviour. Younger drivers are particularly prone to texting-related crashes due to their erratic behaviour behind the wheel, often swerving in and out of lanes or colliding with other vehicles.

Statistics show that 37% of individuals aged between 18 and 27 admit to texting while driving, whereas 14% of those aged between 22 and 44 confess to the same behaviour. Only 2% of people aged 45 to 60 admit to this.

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