Last Friday, we talked about how talking on a cell phone while driving increases the risk of traffic accidents. But as dangerous as that practice may be, texting and driving is even worse. Here are the grim numbers from a new study from the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute:

• 23 The number of times drivers are likely to be involved in a traffic accident when they’re texting
• 5 The average number of seconds drivers spent looking at their cell phones to send or receive a text moments before they crashed
• >100 The number of yards vehicles going 55 mph travel in those nearly five seconds when their drivers are looking away to text
• 14 The number of states that ban texting and driving

To be fair, the Virginia Tech study found that drivers who are simply talking on a cell phone are only 1.3 times more likely to get into a crash—as opposed to 1.4 times when reaching for an object. This runs counter to the findings of numerous studies that speaking on cell phones creates a cognitive disconnect between the driver and the road that greatly increases the risk of accidents.

Source: Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, July 27, 2009,
http://www.vtti.vt.edu/PDF/7-22-09-VTTI-Press_Release_Cell_phones_and_Driver_Distraction.pdf

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