Sending or receiving text messages while driving is more dangerous than originally believedAs more states consider outright bans of talking on cell phones or texting while driving, a new study indicates sending and receiving text messages while driving dramatically increases the likelihood of an accident.You should never do this," Virginia Institute Director Tom Dingus said. "It should be illegal."The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute studied truck drivers for 18 months, recording driving habits of long-haul truck drivers. The long-term study discovered the habits of truck drivers is very similar to regular everyday drivers, Specifically, the study looked into the amount of time drivers spend reading or writing text messages auto risk immediately prior to an accident, participants spent almost five seconds looking at their cell phone. The results of the study showed that drivers who texted were times more likely to get into an accident than drivers who didn’t text.The study will eventually be published, but is now undergoing peer review.People driving a regular car are times as likely to get into a motor accident while using their phone and driving. Other studies indicate the use of Bluetooth headsets allowing for "hands-free" driving doesn't reduce the risk of accidents, with research indicating it's the distraction of having a conversation on the phone, not holding it, that is dangerous.Fourteen states across the United States have banned texting while driving, with a dozen or so other states looking into similar laws. Texting is still such a new phenomenon that lawmakers are now just beginning to catch up to the technology. A soon be published survey from the Foundation for Traffic Safety indicates percent of drivers believe texting is unacceptable, though percent admit to texting while driving.However, there are some states that require additional information research to be done before banning texting, while lawmakers in other states have rejected creating such legislation. Any lawmakers looking for more information likely won't have to wait long, as there are a handful of universities and research groups working on additional studies related to texting and driving. breaking news that texting while driving is a bad idea. But a study released Monday nightreveals just how dangerous it really can be.After examining the behavior of truck drivers covering morethan million miles of road, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute concluded thatpeople who send text messages while driving are times more likely to be in a crash or what they call a near-crash event than nondistracted drivers.To conduct the study, researchers mounted cameras inside drivers' vehicles. They studied where drivers' eyes were looking as they did various things, such as texting, dialing a cell phone, talking on a phone, and reaching for an object. Not surprisingly, the numbers showed that the tasks that took people's eyes off the road caused the greatest amount of danger.In crashes or near-crashes, texting took a driver's focus away from the road for an average of enough time, the report point out, to travel the length of a football field at mph.By contrast, talking on a cell phone, which allows drivers to keep their eyes on the road, represented an increased risk of only times that of a nondistracted driver.The study's authors called into question past research that indicated driving while talking on a cell phone is as dangerous as driving drunk. While those results may have been found in lab tests and driving simulations, they say, the same was not true in real-world situations. They also noted that, contrary to popular belief, talking on a cell phone with a wireless headset is not substantially safer than talking on a regular handset. This is because the most significant factor as far as safety is concerned is to keep one's eyes on the road, the report said.The institute says any task that takes a driver's eyes off the road should be avoided and suggests that all cell phone activity should be banned for newly licensed teenagers because they're more prone to using their phones.Come on you can't accept one study as absolute fact. You have to question their method. Were drivers using Of all the people in the crash how many were involved in a crash. That would be more of a true figure of the risk.Yeah you have to have all of the factors be the same in every test. For example, I sometimes text while driving and while some say how dangerous it is because im not watching the road. double checking on spelling. Is it AS safe as not texting? well no nothing beats but is this method im using going to increase my chance of accident Also.. it takes a teeny tiny bit of common sense to realized that if you are texting.. your reaction-time is going to pay at the very least even if you see the person in front of you slam on their brake you are not holding the steering wheel appropriately. If you have to swerve for some reason your probably going to end up in the middle of that bar personally don't care what method of texting someone . Texting while driving is one of the most moronic things can do while driving. Regardless of where you may fall on a graph, you are only fooling yourself if you think somehow you are less of a risk than anyone else. Those kind of statements are really just a way of justifying your texting behaviors. Safe texting?Not while driving and it doesn't take a "scientific" experiment to figure that out. People are just in too big of a hurry. My only question is, that if two separate cars are texting and they collide into each other, is it a "no fault" or a "double fault" accident?? Think about it for a minute before you think texting while driving is a smart thing to do.I've seriously thought about changing careers, just to become a traffic cop and ticket everyone of the ignorant, arrogant morons here in south silicon valley that I see blatantly ignoring the no texting/talking law. And the fine should be a simple or point in your license!And if you think that's harsh then try doing it in England No, you see, if you acknowledged texting while driving a tonne of steel/aluminium was dangerous regardless, that would be one thing. But the fact that you think using a different handset mitigates the risk will actually result in your behaviours being even more risky as you believe you're in less danger.The reality is, if you believe what you are doing is safe (or safer) you'll do it and thus endanger the rest of us.I've tried it a couple of times to see what it was like, and found it impossible. Instead, I stuck with simply waiting until I'm stopped at a stoplight. This isn't a problem if you're stuck in the middle of going-home traffic hour.Even if you do as older people do - keep your cell phone up in front of the windshield - you still lose eye contact with the road in front of you, and you completely ignore the rear and side mirrors for a prolonged period of time.Reply to this commentmessages, both while playing with a new phone . I have answered my phone twice seconds or less while driving expecting return emergent call, and have never placed a call while driving.Crackberries and other ball n'chain devices should have an auto-off function that cannot be disabled. Restuarants, theaters, libraries, churches, and vehicles should have a faraday cage built in. No one's life is worth your text message. Pray you never face the next of kin at a funeral, having to tell them you killed their loved one because you had to text while driving. They should make the criminal charge murder in the second degree. Or dramatically beef up the negligent homicide laws. This is another case of law and jurisprudence failing to catch up to technological innovation.Reply to this commentI normally don't like going overboard with certain laws but I have to agree. people, texting while driving is equivalent to drunk driving. There are plenty of studies on this and people really need to open there eyes because I am not the person you want to deal with if I or any of my loved ones are involved in a wreck with texting driver. Bank on it!!What's sad is that law & jurisprudence has to catch up with technology. It seems common sense is no longer taught to children by their parents Personally, I think driving test requirements ought to be far stricter than they are. A person should be required to prove they know all driving rules & regulations, and that they are safe on the road before getting an unrestricted license.A Faraday cage built into the car? Really? What about the passengers? They can safely text. I totally agree with banning "crackberries" in churches. There few things more dangerous than texting during Unfortunately the law has kept up with this - most statutes relating to roads have generalised sections relating to 'impairment of capacity' and 'reasonable attention' etc etc. They all have sections that and I"m paraphrasing as they all say it differently 'drive to an accident' - that doesn't mean impair your concentration to increase the risk of one. Texting while driving is the same stupidity as someone who gets in a car and drives despite being on medication that says 'do not operate heavy machinery' - and they go, but i was just driving to the shop - the answer: um, a car is a pretty damn heavy machine idiiot. The laws are there, it is the interpretation that is suffering. While we continue to insist the law be specific on such things endangers the laws from always being in catch up mode. They were written to deal with any distraction in a car.I text while driving and regularly talk on the phone for business, and I have never been in a wreck and I'm years old. So one study doesn't convince me. I remember the studies that came out and said eggs are bad for you, then they came out and said no eggs are a good food.
This is ridiculous we already have way too much government involved in our everyday lives, stay out of my car big brother!Unfortunately you seem like the person who will only convinced by first hand experience. Just cause you haven't been in a crash up till now doesn't mean you will never get into one.first part is nonsense. There's no need for such a study in the first place, it's no rocket science, the study is only saying how dangerous it is. Can you drive blindfolded? The moment you risk MY life I call it assault. And you should be charged.I hope you end up killing yourself and no one else when you eventually crash Your recklessness is not appreciated by the rest of us who are forced to share the road with you. Moron. Keep your idiocy within the confines of your own home.Comparing texting studies with egg studies is just further proof why those of you justifying your behaviors are on borrowed time. Your excuses sound like the ones drunk drivers give. "I have been drinking and driving for twenty years and never had a wreck" I am sure everyone knows that type and then BAM!! While we're at it, if you don't like "big brother", then don't carry insurance on your car, drive at night with your headlights off, and keep on texting while you're driving. After all, if there is no line, how will you know when you have crossed it?how stupid can you be? I suppose you think drunk driving is ok too if someone tells you they do it and has never been in a wreck? If you take yourself out of the gene pool by your stupidity it would be a fitting end. I just hope that you don't take somebody else with you. And note this is not just one study, there have been many studies showing the same thing. It hardly needs a study though, it is so blindingly obvious to most people.you are an idiot. Plain and simple. If ANYONE thinks that texting while driving isn't a bad idea. They are idiots too. I figure survival of the fittest, if you're stupid enough to text while in control of a lb weapon, then when you crash, i hope you don't hurt any innocent people. I don't feel bad about you. God's way of getting rid of the idiots.you are exploiting a legitimate concern (too much government intervention) to argue a case that is more about a condition of driving that has ALWAYS existed - way before you got your precious phone. In a car, that is a heavy machine more than capable of killing a human being, you must always place your priority first on driving safely. Give your full consideration to the road. Not some, not just the spare left over bit after you've had your chat. No. This is not big government. This is basic machine safety. If you were in a factory using heavy machines you wouldn't be debating this. You'd all know someone who'd lost a finger from a slip in concentration.
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