New Study Finds Texting While Driving Much Worse Than Talking

The fact that texting while driving is multiple times more dangerous than talking is pretty intuitive; we don’t really need a study to know it’s true. Texting requires you to take your hand off the wheel and eyes off the road and is a clear distraction.

However, people like studies and a recent study that investigated the dangers of texting while driving, as well as talking on a cell phone, made some revealing findings–or confirmations. The study was performed by a team of University of Utah psychologists and tested men and women between the ages of 19 and 23. It used a driving simulator rather than actual vehicles.

The study found that texting drivers were more likely to follow closely and also suffered from an increased reaction time of 30 percent. In contrast, those talking on cell phones had an increase in reaction time of just 9 percent. Texting drivers were found to be six times more likely to crash than those that didn’t, a number which is actually modest compared to past studies.

So, in other words, we have just one more reason not to answer those all-important texts in the middle of a drive. Hopefully, we’ll continue to see the practice banned. [via MSNBC] [Photo: indyplanets]