Texting while driving leads to increased distraction behind the wheel. In 2006, Liberty Mutual Insurance Group conducted a survey with more than 900 teens from over 26 high schools nationwide. The results showed that 87% of students found texting to be "very" or "extremely" distracting.[74] Then later on, a study by AAA discovered that 46% of teens admitted to being distracted behind the wheel due to texting. One example of distraction behind the wheel is the 2008 Chatsworth train collision, which killed 25 passengers. Upon closer investigation, it became known that the engineer of that train had sent 45 text messages while operating.
A 2009 experiment with Car and Driver editor Eddie Alterman that took place at a deserted air strip showed that texting while driving had a bigger negative impact on driver safety than being drunk. While being legally drunk added four feet to Alterman's stopping distance while going 70 mph, reading an e-mail added 36 feet, and sending a text added 70 feet.[75]
In 2009, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute released the results of an 18-month study that involved placing cameras inside the cabs of more than 100 long-haul trucks, which recorded the drivers over a combined driving distance of three million miles. The study concluded that when the drivers were texting, their risk of crashing was 23 times greater than when not texting.
Patrick Abboud
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