This is how far you’re driving blind when you glance at your phone

It's as tempting as it is dangerous. Trauma surgeons are pleading with drivers to stop glancing at their phones. — dpa

Generally there’s no safety issue with speaking to someone through a phone on loudspeaker, and most countries don’t have specific laws against this.

But even if you keep your eyes focused on the road while talking, a swipe or tap of some sort will be needed to answer and hang up your phone, not to mention all the distractions that come from a phone sending you notifications.

Even a quick glance at your phone while driving at 50 km/h will mean you’ve driven 14 metres without looking at the road. Take just three seconds to skim a WhatsApp message, and you’ll have covered 42 metres at this speed.

On the motorway at 120 km/h, this turns into 100 metres of blind driving.

Trauma surgeons in emergency rooms say this isn’t just a problem for car drivers. Cyclists and people riding scooters are also being injured by risking a quick glance at their phone.

Some carmakers have been trying to end driver distraction by allowing drivers to speak to a built-in assistant to access their phone’s functions with a command like “Hey Mercedes, call dad”.

But for all other drivers using swiping their phone to answer calls, Germany’s organisation of trauma surgeons (DGOU) and Tuev, a leading safety inspection agency, are recommending no mobile phone use at the wheel.

Aside from the safety risks, if it can be proven that you were using a phone during a crash, you can also expect to be paying most of the damages. – dpa