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It Took A $6M Study – Texting + Driving Is Dangerous!

This is going to be a total shock to those who read this but texting while driving is dangerous! So we had to have a $6M study to determine that texting while driving is 23 times more dangerous than when not texting. WOW! Impressive. Here is the scoop:

The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, which compiled the research and plans to release its findings on Tuesday, also measured the time drivers take their eyes from the road to send or receive texts.

In the moments before a crash or near crash, drivers typically spent nearly five seconds looking at their devices — enough time at typical highway speeds to cover more than the length of a football field.

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.

There’s more:

Mr. Hanowski said the texting analysis was financed by $300,000 from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which has the mission of improving safety in trucks and buses. More broadly, the two studies yielding the results represent a significant logistical undertaking. The cost was $6 million to equip the trucks with video cameras and track them for three million miles as they hauled furniture, frozen foods and other goods across the country.

I have a way for improving safety. Outlaw texting all together while driving. Also make it mandatory to have a hands free system to use a cell phone. It’s simple. So where do I collect my $6M ?  LOL

Comments welcome.

Source.

16 Comments

Furthermore, driving with both legs out the window is also dangerous, as is driving with both legs too close to your passenger, but in a different way entirely.

My friend broke his shoulder so now he can’t drive. He only has a hand to hold his cell phone but nothing to drive with. Like he’d be any different.

I have completed a study on cooking breakfast while driving, but I can’t give you the results until someone ponies up a few mil.

Well personally, as a driver in Los Angeles, driving isn’t just pressing the pedals one after the other and sitting. Driving in LA is a skill that is mastered through lots of practice and the sharpening of your reflexes. People here are crazy drivers. Often times I see people driving with their phone in their hand, either it up to their ear or pressing on their keypads to send a quick text. Notice I used the word quick. Yes, it’s a quick few seconds of looking down and driving your attention away from the road, But its also a quick few seconds that can change your life, your car, or the lives of others. Reading this blog didn’t surprise me, nor did I think that a 6 million dollar study was necessary, but, it only confirmed the obvious. Texting, Calling, whatever it may be, regardless of whether it is a cell phone or a burger that you cant wait to open and devour, keep your eyes on the road. Are those quick bites, texts, or phone calls worth a life or even an accident? I think not.

[...] It took a 6 million dollar study to figure out that texting while driving is dangerous. [...]

[...] It took a 6 million dollar study to figure out that texting while driving is dangerous. [...]

[...] It took a 6 million dollar study to figure out that texting while driving is dangerous. [...]

Lili Arakaki – Thanks for the comments.

leftystrat – before you can get any money you have to apply for a grant! LOL

and all they had to do was ask most pedestrians for free. the better idea is to make all non driving activities while driving illegal, and make the fine 10% of the persons monthly income for the first offense 15% for the second, and 15% plus 175 hours of community service(just over the number of work hours in a month based on 40 hours a week) .

ThePanicButtonBlog

July 28th, 2009
at 7:50am

I hate the retards that are constently texting a bunch of gossip. Those are the losers on this world. They think that they controll whatever happens in their “social life”. What they think is fun is to others evil. And now those people are behind the wheels of cars…ugh

There is going to have to be a Bluetooth system in every car, which can translate any received text messages into voice, and vice versa. Otherwise those young people are going to keep crashing into us. I believe statistics currently show that young people are texting approx. 23.88 hours per day.

Or else maybe we can just make it illegal for anyone under 35 years old to drive.

I like the latter myself.

mhz,
23.88 hours per day! I thought it was more than that. LOL

I’m in complete agreement with your last statement Ron. Phil McGraw related some interesting statistics recently on his show, that were the result of having a number of teenagers navigate a course in a driving simulator, with no distractions, with a cell phone, with alcohol, and while ‘text messaging’. The cell phone and the alcohol (very modest intake) both caused moderate swerving, but ONLY the ‘text’ messaging caused the subjects to run over the simulated/ virtual pedestrians. If that ain’t enough to frighten you, I can’t imagine what is? The thing is – these punks drive like shit – with NO distractions! Text messaging is a sissy activity in the first place. Why, in the Wide World of Sports would ANYONE (with the possible exception of Jethro Bodean) wish to use such an inefficient means of communicating??? Just call the damn person and talk to ‘em! Here’s the bottom line – To anyone who strikes my vehicle with theirs: If I find out you were text messaging when you hit me, you’d better quickly text 911 – because YOU’RE gonna need an ambulance, and some intensive care! Keep up the good work Ron.

[...] It took a six-million dollar study to figure out that texting while driving is dangerous. [...]

The following also add difficulty for some people to do while driving.
1) Chewing gum
2) Talking
3) Talking with their hands

We don’t know that because it would cost us $40 mil to find out.

$6 million to find out text messaging while driving is dangerous?!

Some time back I had something put in my car that cost around $200 and would enable the same things to be observed…it’s called a windshield (the old one was cracked beyond repair)!

I drove 18 wheelers cross country for the better part of the last 20 years, and let me tell you, I’ve seen a lot. People reading books and newspapers; eating food and drinking coffee; one time I almost rear ended a car which had stopped dead in the road…on the Interstate! He was reading a map! X_X

And in recent years it’s been cellphones. You want statistics? Just look out your windshield, find some driver driving erratically, and when you get close (hopefully not TOO close!) you’ll see that person has had a cellphone surgically attached to the side of their head, or are taking classes in self-hypnosis over the cellphone (AKA, texting).

It’s one of my pet peeves. It’s called BLUETOOTH and voice dialing, people! I realize you can’t eliminate ALL distractions while you drive, and I wouldn’t advocate it. Paying sole attention to driving is nearly impossible, and just as dangerous as distracted driving (as in road hypnosis and fatigued driving). But every attempt should be made to minimize the distraction to somewhat acceptable levels.

And until someone comes up with text-to-voice for cellphones, it should be banned. And for that matter, Buffet is completely right. Texting is for high school and college students to cheat on tests, NOT as a means of primary communication. Call the person and talk to them! That’s what a phone is for! Save “texting” for email! When you get home! On your computer! With proper sized text that you can read without the aid of an electron microscope!

Did I mention that this was one of my pet peeves? :-D

What Do You Think?

 

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