Would You Drive With Your Eyes Closed? Virginia DMV Launches Powerful New Distracted Driving Campaign

Would you close your eyes for five seconds while driving down the highway?

Most drivers would never consider doing something so dangerous.

Yet every time someone looks down to read a text message, check a notification, or scroll through a phone while driving, that’s essentially what they’re doing.

The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) is using that comparison in a new distracted driving safety campaign called “Open Your Eyes.”

The campaign features an unsettling video that shows drivers covering their faces with their hands while continuing down the road, unable to see traffic, hazards, or other vehicles around them.

As two distracted drivers unknowingly approach a collision, time suddenly freezes just before impact.

The message is simple: Looking at your phone while driving can be just as dangerous as driving with your eyes closed.

Nearly 12,000 Crashes This Year

The campaign comes as distracted driving continues to claim lives on Virginia highways.

According to preliminary DMV figures released with the campaign, distracted driving has contributed to:

• 11,953 crashes across Virginia so far in 2026.
• 93 fatalities involving distracted drivers.
• 816 serious injuries resulting from distracted driving crashes.

The DMV reports that about 10 percent of distracted drivers were using cell phones or texting.

But phones aren’t the only problem.

Distracted driving can involve eating, adjusting the radio, entering information into a navigation system, talking with passengers, or simply letting attention drift away from the road.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration identifies texting as particularly dangerous because it combines three types of distraction: visual, manual, and cognitive.

That means a driver is taking their eyes off the road, their hands off the wheel, and their mind off the task of driving.

“There are serious risks that come with the decision to look at our phones while driving, even just for a couple of seconds,” said DMV Commissioner Saundra Jack, the Governor’s Highway Safety Representative.

Jack said the campaign is designed to change the thinking of drivers who believe that briefly looking away from the road is harmless.

Whether someone is reading a text or physically covering their eyes, she said, the danger and potential consequences are the same.

Five Seconds Can Be the Length of a Football Field

To help drivers understand how quickly things can go wrong, the DMV is teaming up with professional and college football players who have ties to Virginia.

Their message uses a familiar football comparison.

At 55 miles per hour, a vehicle travels approximately 81 feet every second.

Look away for five seconds, and that vehicle has traveled more than 400 feet — longer than an entire football field, including both end zones.

During that time, a car ahead could suddenly brake, a pedestrian could enter a crosswalk, or another vehicle could move into the driver’s lane.

And the distracted driver might never see the danger until it’s too late.

The athletes participating in the campaign include TreVeyon Henderson of the New England Patriots, Tremaine Edmunds of the New York Giants, Kemari Copeland of Virginia Tech, and George Pettaway of James Madison University.

Their videos will appear on social media throughout November, with particular attention to reaching male drivers ages 25 to 34.

A Different Approach to Driver Safety

Rather than relying on traditional warnings or crash statistics alone, the DMV campaign uses a visual approach inspired partly by psychological thriller films.

In the advertisement, drivers move through a strange world where their hands cover their eyes, leaving them unable to respond to what’s happening around them.

The tension builds as two vehicles approach a collision.

Then everything stops.

The moment is meant to make viewers consider what they might miss even with a brief glance at a phone.

Two Tango Collaborative developed the campaign, Spang TV produced it, Adam Azimov directed it, and Overcoast mixed the audio.

“Open Your Eyes” will run across Virginia through December 6, 2026.

Drivers will see the message on television, radio, podcasts, online advertising, social media, billboards, buses, and in movie theaters.

The campaign’s timing places the safety message in front of drivers during the busy Thanksgiving travel season and the beginning of the Christmas holidays.

Holding Your Phone While Driving Is Against Virginia Law

Virginia already has a law intended to reduce one of the most common distractions.

Since January 1, 2021, Virginia has prohibited drivers from holding a cell phone or other handheld personal communications device while operating a moving vehicle on public highways, with limited exceptions.

Drivers may use hands-free technology, but that doesn’t eliminate the risk of mental distraction from a conversation.

Violations can result in a $125 fine for a first offense and $250 for subsequent offenses. A violation in a highway work zone carries a mandatory $250 fine.

The law allows certain exceptions, including reporting an emergency or using a device while lawfully parked or stopped.

But the DMV emphasizes that obeying the law is only part of the responsibility.

A driver can comply with the hands-free requirement and still become distracted.

Simple Ways to Avoid Distracted Driving

DMV recommends taking a few precautions before getting behind the wheel.

• Silence your phone. Turn on Do Not Disturb or a driving focus setting to keep notifications from pulling your attention.
• Put the phone out of reach. If you’re tempted to check messages, place it somewhere you cannot easily grab it.
• Set your GPS before leaving. Enter your destination and adjust music before you begin driving.
• Pull over when necessary. Find a safe place to park before making calls, sending messages, or checking information.
• Ask passengers to help. Let someone else handle calls, messages, or navigation.
• Speak up. If you’re riding with someone who becomes distracted, remind them to concentrate on driving.

A Message Worth Remembering

Most drivers understand that distracted driving is dangerous.

The challenge is remembering that danger when a phone lights up, a message arrives, or a notification seems too important to ignore.

It takes only a moment to check a phone.

But a moment can be enough for traffic conditions to change, a vehicle to stop, or a pedestrian to step into the roadway.

That’s the point Virginia DMV hopes to make with its newest campaign.

You wouldn’t intentionally drive down the highway with your eyes closed.

So why do it every time you look at your phone?

For more information about the dangers of distracted driving and ways to stay safe, visit the Virginia DMV Distracted Driving Safety Page.