NHTSA Resorts To Publicly Shaming People On Twitter For Texting While Driving

By this point, everyone and their dog knows that driving while pecking away on a smartphone dramatically increases the chance of accidents, yet many remain defiant, and sometimes even proud about their foolish deeds. Apparently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has had enough of that, and has decided to begin calling out those who brag about it on Twitter.

AT&T's #ItCanWait Don't Text and Drive Simulator from 2014

More often than not, it's a poor idea for a company (or agency) to use social media to call people they don't even know out. But when it comes to something like this, which does lead to a greater number of deaths, it's hard to feel sorry for anyone who doesn't just text and drive, but talks about it as if it's an accomplishment.

Here's a great example:

.@davidn21501 Our name is NHTSA and we want you and other drivers to be safe on the road. Put the phone down and #justdrive

— NHTSA (@NHTSAgov) April 19, 2016

This is all part of a new campaign the NHTSA has put together called #JustDrive. It helps emphasize the true danger of distracted driving, and it features a couple of great taglines, "Don't Let An Emoji Wreck Your Life", and "If You're Texting, You're Not Driving."

The NHTSA is quick to point out that even if you think you're one of the select few that can text and drive without risk, you're essentially full of it. In response to one person who claims to text and drive all of the time because they happen to be "good at it", the NHTSA replies, "Nope, nobody's good at it".

A number of years ago, the Mythbusters put to test the theory that driving while talking on a phone is worse than driving while drunk. The tests ultimately showed that while driving drunk is a definite no-no, driving while talking on the phone (or especially texting, where you are not even looking at the road) is even worse.

Despite how wrong texting while driving is, the NHTSA has remained cool and collected in its responses. Sometimes, a point-blank statement might be enough to get people to think, though unfortunately, we're doubtful that it's going to be enough for most.