New Jersey (NewYorkInjuryNews.com) — It only takes a a matter of seconds to lose concentration while driving and run into an accident. Now, law makers of 17 states have been fighting to ban typing text messages while driving. New Jersey is one of the five states which have already banned using mobile phones while behind the steering wheel. The other four states are California, New York, Washington and Connecticut.
Assistant psychology professor at Utah University, Frank Drews, participated in a project of research which showed that using mobile phones during driving increases the chances of accidents by five times and may be even more risky if the person is drunk. He believes that using mobile phones while driving is not only risky for the driver but also for other people in the car and on the road.
During the research, 40 people were put to certain distractions as they were driving.
Some were put on mobile phones, some were beyond the legal alcohol perimeter and some were subjected to other everyday traffic distractions. Drews explained that people who were given mobile phones were seen to be at highest risk than any other distractions.
A study done by the Nationwide Insurance revealed that 20% of the drivers are receiving and sending text messages at the same time as they are driving. In the age-group of people from 18-24 years, this number increases to 66%.
While another poll conducted during 2007 showed that 90% of the American adults agree that text messaging while driving is dangerous, distracting and must be outlawed. It has also been estimated that 50% of all the accidents are caused due to distraction caused by mobile phones because one of the drivers was on using his or her hand held phone during the accident.
A large number of other studies were conducted to prove that using mobile phones, especially text messaging is extremely risky while driving and more and more states have started recognizing the dangers.
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