I've tried it a few times and it's really dangerous. I only do one letter at a time and then scan the road for a few seconds to make sure I'm not coming up on something that requires my full attention. It takes me five minutes to type a message out that way and it's still a big risk. After trying it a few times I decided it really was as stupid and dangerous as they say and I stopped.

I do sometimes read text messages while driving, though. I can scan your average text message in a few seconds so if I've got a good long empty stretch in front of me I'll do it. Not the smartest but it doesn't have the same truly unsafe feel sending messages does.