[lisasays]

When you drive after using alcohol, you are drunk the entire trip. When you text and drive, you are distracted for five seconds.

Apples and oranges.

When you are drunk, you might be 20 percent or more impaired - continuously. Sufficient to cause an accident.

When you text - you are 100 percent impaired for 20 or more seconds. Sufficient to cause an accident.

Reducing your comparison to just one dimension ("duration") while completely ignoring the other ("severity") is just - silly.

Also, your estimate of 5 seconds total duration for texting is plainly unrealistic. It takes 5 seconds just to find the chat bubble (assuming your phone hasn't gone into sleep mode) and adjust your cognitive focus.

But this whole exchange is silly, so I'll stop there.

It's plainly obvious that texting causes considerable impairment, not just for driving, but for walking, or just standing there oblivious to everything happening around you ... for just about everything, actually.

Plainly obvious.