The reason that people think that they can text and drive, is because while they were texting, they weren’t paying attention to driving, and do not realize how much they are swerving and not maintaining speed.
I learned this about a decade ago, while driving with someone who was convinced that he could text and drive. I will admit, before this incident, I was guilty of doing so very occasionally, but it was always a “k” in response to a short text. If the text took more time than a quick glance to read, or if the reply required more than a single letter response, i would wait until at least a traffic light, if not a place to actually stop and be out of traffic. Anyway, this guy was convinced that he could drive just fine while texting, and I was the passenger. Every time he pulled his phone out, he would start swerving around, usually crossing the lines into the other lanes. He would usually speed up as he was starting, and then start slowing down, until he realized he was slowing down, and then he would gun it to catch back up with traffic. He would then put his phone back away after his text, and say “See, I don’t know why other people have so much difficulty with that.”
After that ride, I never texted with the car in gear again.
Occasionally I see bad drivers that just seem to be bad drivers for no apparent reason, but most of the time when I see someone having issues with keeping their car going along safely, I can see the driver with their head bent down, looking at their phone. 3 times, I have sat at a green light while I watched a car run a very red light, and as they passed by, I saw their phone up on the steering wheel.
I have thought of a few sports related PSA’s that might help, they are free for anyone that thinks they can make them into something useful.
It’s march madness right now, so basketball works. My idea is to have a player making a run down the court, past the defenders, dribbling furiously with one hand. As he comes out into the open, you see his other hand has a phone in it. He goes for a slam dunk, misses, hits his head on the backboard, and falls in a heap. Fade to black. “Don’t Text and Drive!”
You can make similar ones for football or golf easily enough.