text: Even a two-second distraction - taking your eyes off the road to pick up your phone and see who's calling you for example- increases your risk of crashing. The National Safety Council reports that, "answering a text takes away your attention for about five seconds. Traveling at 55 mph, that's enough time to travel the length of a football field." Anything can happen while you're driving, such as: a car could hit their brakes in front of you, a car could be merging into your lane, traffic might be coming up, or something might jump out into the road. Therefore, you need to keep your eyes on the road at all times with your hands free of anything other than the steering wheel.