Texting And Driving Has Become A Dangerous Epidemic
Previous research suggests that texting slows driver reaction times more than being drunk.
And the act is a constant risk nowadays as everyone carries phones.
Almost half of all adults admit to texting while driving.
The personality traits of "impulsiveness" and a "need to be connected" were linked to voluntarily undertaking such a dangerous act, according to "An exploratory study of psychological tendencies related to texting while driving."
Male drivers were found to be more likely to text and drive.
The study noted that college men know it's dangerous but "also believe that they are better at texting while driving than other drivers."
"There seems to be a mentality that use of electronic devices is dangerous for everyone but 'me'," researchers Garold Lantz and Sandra Loeb of the McGowan School of Business said in a statement.
The risk of getting into a wreck while texting is up to 23 times the normal accident rate, according to previous research.
Studies on multitasking indicate that ion any given moment our brains allow us to focus on a single task (multitaskers are simply better at switching seamlessly between two activities).
In May researchers found that texting while driving surpassed drinking and driving as the leading cause of death among teens.
More than 3,000 teens die each year as a result of texting and driving while approximately 2,700 are killed as a result of driving drunk. Nevertheless, 50% of high school students acknowledged texting and driving.
All U.S. states except Arizona and Montana have bans on texting while driving. (Texas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma only ban the act for bus drivers while New Mexico, Missouri, and Alabama only ban for novice drivers.)