Always in the last place you’d expect to find him, Werner Herzog now comes bearing a haunting and devastating 35-long documentary against texting and driving. Serving as a public service announcement, this one is awfully efficient in raising awareness on the problem and perhaps even putting you off texting altogether.

Following several stories of people affected by texting and driving in one way or another, the project titled From One Second to the Next forces its audience to fully realise the possible negative consequences of such a momentary act of thoughtlessness, as well as how far the pain and implications can reach. It quickly becomes evident that it’s not just the person injured or killed that loses everything, but also the driver texting who has to live with the guilt, the members of both families, as well as in some cases third or even fourth parties involved in the accident. The realisation that one person’s brief slip-up can cause so much perpetual harm, is truly overwhelming.

Gripping and horrifying, the short film may well be the most effective of all the efforts comprising “It Can Wait”, a recent US campaign bringing together four major cell phone providers and countless corporations aiming to instil in the broadest audience possible the knowledge that no message or text is important enough for drivers to put themselves or the people around them in this kind of danger. What should go without saying, doesn’t. And so once again raising awareness on the obvious is unfortunately required.

What hits you when watching Herzog’s film is how little time it takes to change everybody’s life forever. The texters are, as far as I’m concerned, by far the most tragic figures in this case, as the fatal consequences of their actions will accompany them for the rest of their lives. An impossible notion for me to comprehend; let alone for them. In the cases where the families of the victims tend to be more forgiving, some of this unbearable weight seems to be lifted off their shoulders, but in other cases it’s there to stay.

And indeed, not having anyone to blame but yourself is shattering and a hard lesson of its own. It’s disturbing to see decent, kind human beings, fully aware of their actions and the damag e they have caused, turning into their own worst enemies due to agonising remorse. Even when others handle them with sympathy, they don’t seem capable of any compassion towards themselves anymore. Herzog’s brutal close-ups and his refusal to switch the camera off when his subjects break down, only make matters worse.

From One Second to the Next is beautifully filmed, but extremely difficult to watch. I know I can always trust Werner Herzog and his camera to destroy me, and he certainly succeeded once again last night. His documentary targets those who can be careless and easily distracted, but also those who are strong – and it turns out I wasn’t.

Texting and driving … it can wait!

Watch the trailer here:

You can watch the full documentary here: