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Texting While Driving: A Deadly Combination
The Globe and Mail published a story on September 30, 2009 - Bad Idea: Texting While Driving, which outlined that US Transportation officials said in a September 2009 research report that 5,870 people were killed and 515,000 were injured in 2008 in crashes where at least one form of driver distraction was reported. Driver distraction was involved in 16% of all fatal crashes in 2008.
The Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents the US state highway safety officials, recently reversed course and said it would support new laws banning texting behind the wheel. The Alliance for Automobile Manufacturers, which represents 11 auto makers, including General Motors, Ford and Toyota, said it supports a ban on texting and phone calls using handheld devices.
Texting is significantly more prevalent now than even a year ago.According to a 2009 Car and Driver study, drivers who text while operating a vehicle are 3 - 4 times slower than drunk drivers in applying brakes to avoid collisions.
It should go without saying, texting while driving can be a lethal combination because it requires drivers to look down at their phones rather than the road ahead. A relatively new phenomenon, texting is as dangerous as drunk driving, perhaps even more so.
According to a British study, motorists who send text messages while driving are "significantly more impaired" than those who drive drunk, even at the minimum legal limit for alcohol. The study showed that drivers' reaction times deteriorated by 35% and they saw a 91% decrease in steering ability. Similar studies of drunk driving, by comparison, showed that reaction times fell by a mere 12%.
"This research demonstrates how dangerous it is to drive and text," said Dr. Nick Reed, senior human factors researcher at U.K.-based Transport Research Laboratory, a private firm that conducted the study for the Royal Automobile Club Foundation.
"When texting, drivers are distracted by taking their hand off the wheel to use their phone, by trying to read small text on the phone display, and by thinking about how to write their message," said Reed.
Recently, the Ontario Medical Association called for the province to find ways to curtail the use of cell phones while driving, and recommended that any type of driving-related safety policy should also include activities such texting and e-mailing.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) agrees texting is among the worst distractions on the road, right at the top of the list with reading and applying makeup while driving. "Anything that diverts attention from the road is a hazard," said OPP Sgt. Pierre Chamberland.
A January 2007 survey by U.S.-based Nationwide Insurance suggested 19% of motorists said they texted while driving.
According to the British study, texting while driving is also more dangerous than cell phone use. The study compared the level of distraction caused by texting to that caused by cell phone use or drug and alcohol consumption. It concluded that texting had the most impact on lane positioning and the second most impact on reaction times.
All participants in the study described themselves as confident texters but were unable to react quickly when put into simulated driving conditions where hazards popped up and buzzers sounded.
Researchers found drivers' mental attention was diverted from the road to the hand-held device, and just as bad, they were reduced to driving with only one hand on the wheel.
Interestingly, drinking and driving is still widely considered as a wholly inappropriate thing to do, but not texting while driving, said Prof. Stephen Glaister, director of the Royal Automobile Club Foundation.
"The participants in this study were almost unanimous in their view that drunk driving was the most dangerous action on the road. Yet this research clearly shows that a motorist who is texting is significantly more impaired than a motorist at the legal alcohol limit," said Glaister.
http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/09/22/texting-driving.html