Tonight's news featured another of those studies that demonstrate the obvious. Research performed by the Virginia Tech University Transportation Institute, recently released, shows that texting while driving is dangerous - drivers who do it are 23 times more likely to have an accident than the "normal" driver; by comparison, cell phone use enhances the driver's chance of an accident by "only" fourfold, which is about the same as driving drunk.
I suppose it's helpful to have these numbers from the study, so that we can set up a hierarchy of dangerous driving habits.
But seriously, who did NOT know that texting while driving was dangerous? (Possible exception: teenagers, who can be forgiven because their brains aren't formed yet.) Intuitively, the rest of us realize it's the worst of all possible combinations: hands not fully available for driving (as in shaving or eating), eyes not on the road (as in reading or hunting for something in your purse), and the mind completely distracted (as in cell phone use). Worse yet, to me, is that texting is so utterly trivial. Conceivably you could get an emergency message, or an important business call, or a change of time on an appointment, via a cell phone, but by text?
Safety experts say that when statistics like this are publicized, and particularly when laws are passed banning certain behavior (about a dozen states now ban texting while driving), people sit up and take notice. I haven't noticed any such effect in cell phone use, though maybe that's because most jurisdictions, lackadaisical legislators have only got around to banning hand-held cell phones. But let's hope the safety guys are right.
Appropriate word for latest "Texting While Driving Is Dangerous Study" might be 'DUH'?
Posted by: KKW | July 29, 2009 at 03:57 PM