A latest study has found that texting, dialing, or reaching for a cell phone while driving increases the possibility of a crash more than any other form of distracted driving.
While the risks of distracted driving has become common knowledge, a new, real-time monitored study confirms that dialing, texting and reaching out for a cell phone can pose a greater risk of a crash or near-crash, mainly among novice drivers. Surprisingly, the study states that talking on a phone while driving did not pose as great a threat, like implicated in several other studies.
But experts claim that the technology used in the study may have failed to analyze the risk of talking on phone while driving. Also, the study did not distinguish between handheld and hands-free devices.
"Anything that takes a driver's eyes off the road can be dangerous," study author Bruce Simons-Morton of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development said in a statement, according to Star Beacon. "Our study shows that distracted driving practices are especially risky for novice drivers, who haven't developed sound safety judgment behind the wheel."
Researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute installed a monitoring set up, comprising of video cameras, global positioning systems, lane trackers, speed recorder and other sensors in 42 vehicles of novice drivers and 109 vehicles of experienced drivers with an average of 20 years behind the wheel.
According to the study's core findings, a novice driver is more than eight times likely to have a crash or near-crash while dialing a cell phone, 8 times higher when trying to reach for something, more than 7 times higher when trying to reach for a cell phone and nearly 4 times when looking elsewhere other than the road or eating.
David Strayer, a University of Utah scientist said the finding of the new study is based on the odds. The cameras installed in the vehicles could only capture wandering eyes, which is unlikely when a person is talking on the phone, but do not capture cognitive distraction.
Distracted driving due to cell phone use has got a lot of attention lately with several measures being taken to prevent drivers from indulging into the act. More recently, New York State police was allotted 32 unmarked SUVs to monitor drivers who use cell phones while driving. Most states have banned the use of cell phones, while some have imposed texting ban for novice drivers. Only a limited number of states are left with no texting ban. Tougher penalties and texting zones in highways have been introduced since the risks of distracted driving gained interest.
Currently, there are 12 states that ban the use of cell phone while driving, 41 ban texting and all cell phone use is banned in 37 states for novice drivers, according to National Conference of State Legislatures.