Texting & Driving
Amy Wachler
Issue date: 12/1/08 Section: News
The Information Week and Business Technology Network estimates that nearly 2.3 trillion text messages will be sent worldwide in 2008, roughly 767 per person in a twelve-month span. We text in class, at the movies, during parties and, more and more, behind the wheel. Verizon Wireless even offers special plans that send text message alerts to drivers with traffic updates, detour options and where to find the cheapest gas prices. Though many people believe they can simultaneously handle the road and their phone, texting in the car poses a much greater threat than we may realize.
A study from U.K.'s Transport Research Lab Kingdom found texting and driving to be equally, if not more, dangerous than drinking and driving or driving under the influence of marijuana.
According to a Sept. 19 report published in "The Times Online," reaction times for people who texted while driving were 35 percent slower than normal, compared to 12 percent after drinking and driving within the legal limit. In addition, steering control was 91 percent worse than average drivers. While we may not realize it, texting requires significant attention, and combined with navigating routes, watching for other cars and paying attention to traffic signals, it's not surprising that motor skills suffer.
Dr. William Berg, Associate Professor of Kinesiology and Health at Miami, studies motor control and reaction times. In addition to examining information processing principles, Berg talks to students in his courses about the main causes of distraction among young drivers and the dangers associated with those behaviors.
"There is data that suggests that just talking on the phone while driving increases a person's risk of having an accident by four times, which is the same as driving drunk," he says. "So it would make sense that texting would be even more distracting since it's physically taking your attention away from the traffic and roadway."
Even when they are aware of the danger, Americans still seem to harbor a "that will never happen to me" mentality. According to a 2007 Harris Interactive Poll, 91 percent believed texting while driving was just as dangerous as having a few drinks before heading out on the road, and 89 percent agreed that texting while driving should be illegal. But of those surveyed, 57 percent admitted to texting at the wheel.
A study from U.K.'s Transport Research Lab Kingdom found texting and driving to be equally, if not more, dangerous than drinking and driving or driving under the influence of marijuana.
According to a Sept. 19 report published in "The Times Online," reaction times for people who texted while driving were 35 percent slower than normal, compared to 12 percent after drinking and driving within the legal limit. In addition, steering control was 91 percent worse than average drivers. While we may not realize it, texting requires significant attention, and combined with navigating routes, watching for other cars and paying attention to traffic signals, it's not surprising that motor skills suffer.
Dr. William Berg, Associate Professor of Kinesiology and Health at Miami, studies motor control and reaction times. In addition to examining information processing principles, Berg talks to students in his courses about the main causes of distraction among young drivers and the dangers associated with those behaviors.
"There is data that suggests that just talking on the phone while driving increases a person's risk of having an accident by four times, which is the same as driving drunk," he says. "So it would make sense that texting would be even more distracting since it's physically taking your attention away from the traffic and roadway."
Even when they are aware of the danger, Americans still seem to harbor a "that will never happen to me" mentality. According to a 2007 Harris Interactive Poll, 91 percent believed texting while driving was just as dangerous as having a few drinks before heading out on the road, and 89 percent agreed that texting while driving should be illegal. But of those surveyed, 57 percent admitted to texting at the wheel.
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