New game highlights why cars and phones don't mix

You're a member of the PetrolBlog community, so you wouldn't dream of using a mobile phone at the wheel. So click away and find an article on some obscure French car.

But the chances are you know somebody who does put their life and the lives of other road users at risk by using their phone when they should be concentrating on the road. Send them in this direction – it might just save their life.

At the very least, it will save them a £200 fine and six penalty points on their licence.

Kwik Fit got in touch with PB to tell us about an interactive game that tests your stopping speed rate while trying to use a phone. It's called #DrivenToDistraction and it can be played here.

Four times more likely to crash

It's a serious business. According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), in-car distractions contributed to 2,920 accidents in 2015 – that's 3 per cent of all reported road accidents.

Meanwhile, an American study found that talking on a mobile phone, answering a mobile phone and dialling on a mobile phone accounted for 1.30 per cent of total driving time.

The fact is, a driver is FOUR TIMES more likely to crash when using a mobile phone, regardless of whether it's hand-held or hands-free. Little wonder there are calls for a blanket ban on the use of mobiles in the car.

Kwik Fit's interactive game is pretty simple, but it demonstrates just how easy it is to be distracted behind the wheel. First, you set a reaction time by clicking the screen when you see the 'stop' sign.

Then you have to repeat the exercise, with a smartphone obscuring the view of the road ahead, while trying to answer a question about road safety. Videos of cats playing the piano are more exciting, but that's not the point of this exercise.

Even on the easiest setting – and by using tongue-sticking-out levels of concentration – the best PB could achieve was a 0.379-second slower reaction time. That equates to 5.264 metres at 30mph. That's long enough for an impromptu meeting with the car in front.

PetrolBlog isn't going to get high and mighty about this – that's not the way we go about our business. Besides, changing the radio station in the W123 or loading a CD in the £100 Laguna is arguably just as dangerous.

But if it makes one person think twice about using a phone at the wheel, it's a good start.

This post was brought to you in collaboration with Kwik Fit.