5 Ways To Break Your Texting And Driving Habit

Just one look at the stats lets you know how dangerous distracted driving is. Most of us know how bad this problem is, but it's all too tempting to take a look at that text in the car. In that few seconds that you took to look down at your phone, however, it could be too late.

1. Put it in airplane mode

Get into the habit of switching your phone into airplane mode before your start your journey and you won’t receive any texts or calls when you are driving.

2. Use an app

There are a lot of different apps, such as this one from AT&T that will do things such as activating airplane mode when you are traveling faster than a certain speed, or sending automatic replies to texts when you are driving.

3. Red Thumb Reminder

Sometimes the simple ideas are the best ones. One movement that has gained some traction online is #redthumbreminder. People paint their thumbnail red, and it reminds them not to use their phone while driving. Simple, but effective.

4. Hide your phone

If you really cannot stop yourself from using your phone, you might need to take more drastic measures and get it out of your sight. Put it in your glove box, or in the trunk. If you have passengers, give it to one of them and they can stop you from using it, screening your texts if necessary.

5. Siri or Bluetooth

Via buzzfeed.com

It is not a perfect solution, but if you still need to be able to hear your texts, you can use Siri or a bluetooth link to your car. This way a voice will read out your texts as they come, and you can even dictate a reply.