An article in the New York Times by Matt Richtel, examines a study of 18-wheeler drivers texting inside their vehicles substantially increases the risk of crash and exceeds previous estimates. Texting far surpasses the dangers of other driving distractions.
The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute compiled the research and plans to release its findings from a study which outfitted the cabs of long-haul trucks with video cameras over eighteen months. The new study established that when the drivers texted, their collision risk was 23 times greater than when not texting. By comparison, people talking on a cell phone are 4 times more likely to get into an accident.
In the moments before a crash or near crash, the driver typically spent nearly 5 seconds looking at their devices which at highway speeds would travel more than the length of a football field. More than 100 truckers were studied by the research. 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. The over-all 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. The data is undergoing final analysis by peer review before formal publication.
These research findings that texting increased the risk of vehicle accident is not surprising. Taking your eyes of the roadway and your hand off the steering wheel is not the type of multi-tasking that is done while driving an 18-wheeler or any motor vehicle. My own unscientific study while stopped at red lights results in seeing motorist texting while driving. The studies demonstrate the need for laws to ban texting. While enforcement may be difficult the legislation would increase the awareness to the driver that texting puts the motoring public at a significant risk of accident and injury and makes it illegal.
Richard J. Arsenault, 2010
[...] A bill has been introduced in the Senate to ban texting while driving. The proposed law would prohibit any driver from sending text or email messages while driving a vehicle. This legislation follows the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute’s study of long-haul truck drivers, wherein it found texting truckers are 23 times as likely as their non-texting counterparts to be involved in a auto crash or near miss. Read my blog about 18-wheelers and texting here. [...]