I’m looking for real numbers, like what % of accidents are caused by texting, whether accidents are more common now than 12 years ago because of texting, and other similar statistics.
They had a documentary on Discovery the other day about this. There was a research center where they had a car simulator wired up to monitor things like what your eyeballs were looking at and measure driving parameters like steering (were you swerving), speed and reaction times. This is comparable to airplane simulators where they simulated G forces, peripheral vision, mirrors, etc. Very accurate and expensive set-up.
It was amazingly obvious how dangerous texting (and many other things) was after running the tests.
Subjects thought that it didn’t have any impact on their driving, but looking at things like driving straight, it was clear that the driver was actually switching between the two tasks. The driver would be swerving while texting, and when interviewed the driver would be certain that no such thing happened.
I think the studies are pretty darn conclusive that this is really dangerous behavior, and that individuals are incapable of observing their own performance degradation under normal circumstances.
I’m looking for a better cite of the documentary…
Missed the edit window:
The documentary is called “The Truth About Traffic”
Here are a couple of studies:
Texting while driving increases crash risk 23-fold
Road test shows texting slows reaction time
Just *talking *on a cell phone impairs your reactions while driving as much as drunkenness.
And, come to think of it, how could it not impair your driving abilities. Especially city driving is such a complex thing when you think of it that it’s really a miracle that we’re able to manage most of the time even without distractions such as phones, annoying kids in the back seat or gophers, trapped under the brake pedal. Lots of people have a really high opinion of themselves as drivers, but you see people swerving or occupying two lanes at the same time a lot - and it’s usually because they’re on the phone.
Interesting. And now I’m convinced it’s okay for me to text while driving. Because I’ve always known full well that I swerve while texting, and for that reason, only text when I know I have room for swerving. 