How to safely check your text messages when driving

Reading or typing on your phone while you’re behind the wheel is insanely dangerous; it’s exactly as safe as driving with your eyes closed.

What’s that you say? “Everyone knows that”?

Then why are 40 percent of car accidents in the U.S. these days caused by drivers with phones in their hands? And why do 27 percent of all American adults (and 35 percent of teenagers) admit to texting while driving in the past 30 days?

Here’s a slightly safer idea: When you hear a text coming in, use Siri (on an iPhone) to check it for you. Just hold down your iPhone’s Home button to summon Apple’s digital assistant, and say, “Read my messages.” Your phone will then read them aloud, so you can judge whether or not they’re important enough to justify pulling over and stopping your car to reply.

If you have an Android phone, you can download an app that gives you the same kind of feature: ReadItToMe, for example, is free.