Phone, Makeup, Coffee and Cigarettes – A-OK in Sweden
Driving while talking on the phone has been banned if you do it without a handsfree set in all European countries for some time now – that is, all except one. Sweden will still let you do it, and they won’t even look twice.
The reasoning behind this is that using the phone is no more accident provoking than applying your make-up, drinking coffe or smoking while you drive, and they’re not about to ban those things, so why ban phones?
Well, texting (sms-ing) while driving has been said to multiply your accident risk 25 times, and government agencies in certain countries have even considered giving people texting-while-driving courses, seeing that people aren’t going to stop doing it just because they’ve been told not to. Much like everything else.
People who are texting take their eyes off the road for an average of 5 seconds, in which a car driving at “typical highway speeds” cover a distance of half a football field. Which is pretty far. This according to NYTimes.
So what should you do? There’s not a lot to do, in fact – other than trying to stay away from the phone while you’re driving. And not drinking your morning coffee. Aaaand not applying that finishing touch of make-up, if that’s your fancy. Don’t smoke either – those things’ll kill ya. And no programming your GPS, changing radio stations or switching CDs. Never mind, by the way. There’s no way drivers will sit like statues with their eyes forward and their hands glued to the steering wheel. If you want to venture out into traffic, you’d better be prepared to not trust anyone but yourself, and at no time assume anything about what other drivers may or may not be doing out there.
Which goes for…well…everywhere else in life as well. Watch out for yourself, and trust no one. It’s a good motto.
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Yea, but still, Sweden has the lowest deeath numbers in traffic, we can do 2 things at the same time compare to other contries like Norway or England, eat that :)))