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Science Texting and driving may be a thing of the past
Science Texting and driving may be a thing of the past | Texting and driving may be a thing of the past |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Wednesday, 29 July 2009 | |
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Page 1 of 3   
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Science DiscussionsAccording to the July 27, 2009 New York Times article “In Study, Texting Lifts Crash Risk by Large Margin,” a Virginia Tech study has shown that drivers texting while driving dramatically increases the dangers of having an accident and is far more dangerous than other driving distractions, such as listenning to the radio, talking with passengers, and even talking on cell phones. Researchers, who were led by Rich Hanowski, at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) studied semi-truck drivers who drive long distances. Video cameras were installed in their cabs to observe their driving habits over a 1.5 year period. The VTTI website states, "Several large–scale, naturalistic driving studies (using sophisticated cameras and instrumentation in participants' personal vehicles) conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), provide a clear picture of driver distraction and cell phone use under real–world driving conditions. Combined, these studies continuously observed drivers for more than 6 million miles of driving." The Virginia Tech researchers found that drivers who text and drive at the same time are twenty-three (yes, 23 times) more likely to have a collision than drivers that do not text and drive simultaneously. Specifically, the study found that drivers, on average, spend five (5) seconds looking at their texting devices, and not looking at the road. The New York Times articles states this amount of time is “… enough time at typical highway speeds to cover more than the length of a football field.” The Times article adds, “Even though trucks take longer to stop and are less maneuverable than cars, the findings generally applied to all drivers, who tend to exhibit the same behaviors as the more than 100 truckers studied, the researchers said. Truckers, they said, do not appear to text more or less than typical car drivers, but they said the study did not compare use patterns that way.” Page two continues. |
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