Text Messaging Is A Leading Dangerous Driving Distraction

You know that drinking and driving is dangerous.  Nothing about that fact has changed, but a new study conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute has identified a driving distraction that is equally dangerous: texting and driving.

How dangerous is it? One of the study's lead researchers stated that "texting is in its own universe of risk."  A quick view of google's results for: 'text messaging accident' leads to an endless list of alarming stories that reinforce the researchers' claim.

To ensure that the study returned precise results, researchers installed cameras inside the cabs of trucks to monitor the texting habits of drivers.  The study spanned 18 months and the results were exactly what was expected: disastrous.  Researchers found that when a driver texted, the risk of being involved in a crash was 23 times greater than if they didn’t text.

Another frightening fact revealed in the study involved the amount of time drivers looked away from the road to send or receive a text.  It was discovered that immediately preceding a collision, a driver would spend nearly five seconds looking at their phone.  And though it may not sound like a long time, it's more than enough time for your vehicle to cover the distance of a football field while driving highway speeds!

Unless people refrain from texting while driving, or all states strictly enforce laws against texting while driving, the problem is sure to turn into a deadly epidemic.  In December of 2008, phone users in the U.S. sent 110 billion text messages.  This is ten times the number of texts that were sent three years prior.