Irish International / Vimeo

A NEW ADVERTISEMENT from the Road Safety Authority shows the devastating effect that one spilt second spent texting while driving can have.

The video shows one second in time under a microscope starting with a family barbeque in a rural garden on a sunny day and then switching to to cars driving towards each other on a road. One has a family inside and the other is driven by a man who, just for a second, looks at his phone to reply to a text.

As time returns to normal the viewer sees the crash from the point of view of the mobile phone which is thrown around and ends up on the ground. There we see the inane message the driver was responding to when he looked away – for a split second.

The ad follows the success of the devastatingly sad ‘Don’t Look Back Commercial’:

Brian Farrell, communications manager for the Road Safety Authority of Ireland said mobile phone use is “killing people on Irish roads”.

We know for a fact that making a call while driving will make you four times more likely to crash.  However, most people are not aware that you are a staggering 23 times more likely to crash when texting while driving.

“With our new advertising campaign our message is very clear – when you use your mobile phone behind the wheel, taking your mind and eyes off the road for just a split second can destroy everything forever.”

Read: A lucky escape: This Dublin cyclist’s helmet was split in three places in a crash>