OPINION: Texting and driving is selfishly risking lives

Not once have I watched a person's Snapchat of them driving and thought to myself "wow, that's a nice road and quality snap".

Texting while driving. Picture: Warren Lynam

NOT once have I watched a person's Snapchat of them driving and thought to myself "wow, that's a nice road and quality snap".

Instead, I'm thinking "get off your phone or we're going to witness you in an accident".

In fact, the number of Snapchat users I had on my list who used their phones while driving became so frustrating I deleted the app altogether.

A phone is as much of a blessing as it is a curse and as the addiction to our devices grows so has the number of people using them while driving and quite frankly, it's terrifying. 　

The new documentary It's People Like Us lets viewers watch the driving behaviours of five Australians who signed up to have their mobile phone use monitored while behind the wheel.

At first I thought we would see minimal use of devices but surprisingly, knowing you're being monitored and your every move is being watched wasn't enough of a deterrence as participants continued to text, take selfies and Snapchat while driving.

Some even had the audacity to try and justify their actions.

Put simply, there is absolutely no excuse to use your phone while driving.

The text can wait.

Despite your friends telling you to hurry up and get to Maccas for lunch, they'd prefer you get there late and alive than never at all.

Another fascinating aspect of the documentary was watching how long a person was looking down at their phone for.

To them, it's a split second but it can be much longer and even in a second, anything can happen.

If you're travelling at 100km/h and look down for one second, that's 100m where your eyes are off the road.

Think about it.

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I understand the intention behind the documentary but unfortunately I don't think it will help - at least in the long run.

Most people won't change their behaviour unless they are negatively impacted by their actions.

For some, it would take themselves or a loved one to be involved in an accident for the message to truly sink in.

But by then, it is too late.

The incredible thing is too, that even after a tragic event, it doesn't take long for people to go back to their original behaviour.

Originally published as OPINION: Texting and driving is selfishly risking lives