The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute said texting while driving “increases the risk of a crash much more than previous studies have concluded with motorists taking their eyes off the road longer than they do when talking or listening on their cell phones.”
The institute used cameras to continuously observe light vehicle drivers and truckers for more than 6 million miles. It found that when drivers of heavy trucks texted, their collision risk was 23 times greater than when not texting, local media reported.
Dialing a cell phone and using or reaching for an electronic device while driving increased risk of collision about six times in cars and trucks, the study said.
Recent research using driving simulators suggested that talking and listening were as dangerous as texting, but the “naturalistic driving studies clearly indicate that this is not the case,” the local media quoted a release from the institute as saying.
“The risks of texting generally applied to all drivers, not just truckers,” the researchers said.
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