This Browser Game Shows How Dangerous Texting While Driving Actually Is

Sometimes the reality of how dangerous something is doesn’t set in until you’ve actually experienced it. This simple game, Gauging Your Distraction, from The New York Times has you moving at high speeds, changing lanes, and trying to answer text messages at the same time. The game makes you change lanes with the number keys (1 through 6), and answer texts using your mouse to simulate typing one letter at a time on a phone’s keyboard. Even though you only have to answer the texts with one word answers, you see pretty quickly how difficult it is to do everything at once.

This game isn’t new (it’s actually fairly old), but it still does a great job of showing how bad we are at multitasking—especially at high speeds. There are plenty of features now that help us communicate safely while we drive, but texting while driving is still an issue. So, show this game to your teenagers that are learning to drive, and give it a go yourself.