Common sense to be something in real short supply these days as one new study out shows that more people are texting while they are driving despite concerted efforts from law enforcement and other organizations to show how dangerous this practice is.

According to new data from the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) the number of people ‘caught’ texting while driving has jumped from 0.6% in 2009 to 0.9% in 2010. This increase has been reflected in the number of accidents related to texting while driving which came in at around the 3,000 mark.

The NHTSA says that they expect to see an increase of 2,300% in the number of accidents due to texting while driving which is why they have led the call for the ban of all texting while driving.

“Using a cell phone while driving is the equivalent of having a blood alcohol concentration level of .08%, the legal limit in most states,” the NHTSA said in a statement. “Using a cell phone can reduce the brain activity associated with driving by 37%.”

via TechnoBuffalo

It should also be noted that in July a Governors Highway Association study found that up to 25% of car crashes in the US is associated with drivers being distracted by some sort of gadget.

Personally I think that anyone caught texting while driving should have their license taken away from them for a number of years equal to the number of words in the last text they sent or read while driving. Texting is the new DUI and can kill just as easily.

image courtesy of TechnoBuffalo

New study says texting while driving on the rise is a post from: The Inquisitr

A federal study conducted by the National Highway Transportation Safety Association has found that text messaging while driving has jumped by 50% over the last year. That increase comes despite federal and state campaigns to bring awareness to the dangers of text messaging while driving.

To conduct their study officials stood on intersections and discovered that nearly 1% of drivers were text messaging while stopped, up from .06% in 2009.

The organization also performed a phone survey in which they discovered 18% of drivers say they text message while driving. When interviewing drivers from the ages of 21-to-24-years-old that number increased to nearly 50%.

A representative for the Governors’ Highway Safety Association says that it has become clear that texting won’t be stopped by:

“It is clear that educational messages alone.”

The agency hopes that their findings will lead to stronger laws that enforce putting the phone down while driving. The agency says:

“Many drivers won’t stop texting until they fear getting a ticket.”

One such law can be witnessed in Pennsylvania where texting while driving was banned in November after 32,885 deaths were witnessed in 2010, a drop of nearly 3% from the year prior.

In my state of Illinois texting or talking on a cell phone in a school zone comes with a first time fine that increases with each offense and more than 35 other states now have texting and cell phone use laws enacted and more states continue to add and change their texting and calling laws on a regular basis.

Do you think more severe texting while driving laws need to be enacted to end the dangerous practice?

[Image via ShutterStock.com]

NHTSA Study: Texting While Driving Increases By 50% is a post from: The Inquisitr

This is always pretty terrifying when you realized it has happened.

[reddit]

[Rage] Paying Attention While Driving is a post from: The Inquisitr

I’m not sure how good an idea this is but it seems that State Farms has launched an app for the iPhone that uses the smartphone’s accelerometer and GPS to become the backseat driver we all hate.

Using those two features of the iPhone State Farms Driver Feedback app gauges your acceleration, braking and cornering habits. Then using all that information the app spits out a score that you can share with your friends and family but not the courts – yet.

State Farm says that they aren’t collecting any of the information but who’s willing to bet that at some point that might become an option especially if they offer you deals on your insurance based on your scores.

via Engadget

State Farm Becomes A Backseat Driver And Scores Your Driving is a post from: The Inquisitr

In a recent study by Ipsos in the U.S. between December 10, 2010 and January 5, 2011 they found that 75% of the 2,000 adults that took part in the survey felt that mobile manners have worsened since the last study was done in 2009.

An Intel researcher, Genevieve Bell, said of the results of the study, which was again sponsored by Intel, that it’s no surprise that people are still struggling with how to integrate all these new devices into their lives.

The study also found that:

• U.S. adults see an average of five mobile “offenses,” including the use of mobile devices while driving or talking loudly on a mobile phone in public, every day.
• One in five adults admit to checking a mobile device before getting out of bed in the morning.
• Of the 91% of respondents who reported seeing offenses, 56% saw car drivers using a mobile device, 48% saw people using one in a restroom, 32% saw them used in movie theaters and 9% saw the devices used by people on a honeymoon.
• Nearly 25% of U.S. adults say they have seen a person use a laptop computer while driving.

via PC World

New study says mobile users are ruder than ever is a post from: The Inquisitr

Have all those hours spent casually smashing up your car in Burnout or falling off Rainbow Road in Mario Kart affected your real-life driving skills? Yes! According to who? Science, that’s who.

A poll of 2000 motorists commissioned by Continental Tyres reveals that those who game are crappier drivers than those who don’t. The study, which questioned drivers aged between 17 and 39, found that gamers are twice as likely to run red light, run red lights, make insurance claims, and generally misbehave on the roads.

On the flip side, gamers statistically suffer less prang damage, and do pass their driving test quicker (though not in my case: after sixty-five hours of lessons, I gave up – to my eternal shame, that’s actually true).

“It seems that while gamers develop useful skills and are more confident, they need to apply some balance with a sensible assessment of risk,” tooted Continental’s Tim Bailey. “Playing computer driving games means good concentration levels and improved reaction times, however, they can take more risks than non-gaming drivers, possibly due to the lack of real consequences in games.”

As a gamer, I want to defend my brothers and sisters, but that does make sense. Also see aforementioned anecdote about me being inept in a car.

[Via Edge]

Study claims gamers make worse drivers is a post from: The Inquisitr

The T500 RS racing wheel might be eye-wateringly expensive, though the fact it was designed with input from Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi might sell a few units – probably to the kind of people who buy this. Burbles Yamauchi:

“The goal that I set for the Thrustmaster team was to design for me the most precise wheel ever developed, without any latency – to accurately reproduce the sensations of GT5, and let users truly feel the emotions experienced by drivers on real racing circuits.”

Featuring real metal parts and a force feedback system with a 65W industrial motor, this clearly packs a punch. It looks great as well – particularly that chunky pedals rig – but 600 clams? I mean, that’s two PlayStation 3s.

If you’re interested, this should be out in stores everywhere by early January.

See also: [VIDEO] Own the ultimate driving game rig for a mere $191,000.

[Via press release]

Thrustmaster reveals $600 Gran Turismo 5 racing wheel is a post from: The Inquisitr

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (or FARS) has released new data regarding drug use and driving, indicating that the issue may influence up to 33% of driver fatalities.

The NHTSA points out that drug use is not necessarily the cause of fatal accidents, but that many drivers involved are found to have used legally prescribed, over-the-counter, or illicit substances- an issue they believe warrants some concern:

According to data compiled by NHTSA, 63 percent of the 21,798 drivers who were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2009 were tested for drugs.  Of these, 3,952 tested positive for drug involvement, representing 18 percent of the total for that year.  The report also showed drug use reported by the states among fatally injured drivers increasing from 13 percent in 2005, to 15 percent in 2006, 16 percent in 2007, and 18 percent in 2008.

NHTSA Administrator David Strickland pointed out some variance in the study’s results, noting that post-mortem drug testing is not always available or carried out. Yet he warns that drivers need to exercise more caution in discerning when drugs, not just alcohol, may make driving unsafe:

“While it’s clear that science and state policies regarding drugs and driving are evolving, one fact is indisputable.  If you are taking any drugs that might impair your ability to drive safely, then you need to put common sense and caution to the forefront, and give your keys to someone else.  It doesn’t matter if its drugs or alcohol, if you’re impaired, don’t drive,” Administrator Strickland warned.

You can read the NHTSA’s full statement here.

NHTSA says 1 in 5 fatally injured drivers may have been impaired by drugs is a post from: The Inquisitr

Drunk driving is an oft-cited dangerous behavior on the road, but if you’re regularly getting behind the wheel without proper rest, you could be “overestimating your ability to deal” with the effects of sleep deprivation on your driving.

A new study indicates that as many as one out of six, or almost 17%, of fatal car accidents may stem from drivers that haven’t been getting enough sleep. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety carried out the study, which polled 2,000 Americans via phone. Results indicated that instances of sleepiness-induced injury were alarmingly common:

The report found that two out of five (41 percent) survey respondents admitted to falling asleep or nodding off while driving at some point in their lives. One in 10 acknowledged doing so in the past year. More than a quarter (27 percent) of those surveyed admitted that in the previous month they drove despite being so tired that they had difficulty keeping their eyes open.

Dr. Thomas Balkin spoke to the NYT about the creeping effects of sleep deprivation, saying that crashes related to the condition tended to be severe because people are generally poor at fending off the onset of sleep:

“People think that by rolling down the window or turning up the radio they will be able to offset drowsiness and make it to where they are going,” he said. “But they lose touch. When we’re sleepy, we know we’re sleepy, but the process of actually falling asleep, we’re not good at identifying that.”

The AAA recommends a minimum of six hours of sleep before long periods driving.

Study: Sleep deprivation causing more road fatalities is a post from: The Inquisitr

In a 2009 Pew Internet & American Life Project study they found that 47 percent of adults who actually use text messaging admitted that they would text and drive at the same time. In contrast only 34 percent of teens between the age of 16 to 17 would text and drive.

The study then suggested that when using those numbers it means that 27 percent of all American adults have text messaged while driving.

Pew interviewed 2,252 adults in the past two months, of which 1,917 owned a cell phone and 1,189 said they used text messages.

The news comes as more Americans than ever are using cell phones and sending texts. Pew found that 82 percent of Americans over age 18 now have a cell phone and 58 percent of them text. About 75 percent of teens have mobile phones and 66 percent send texts.

Source: PC Mag

Some of the other numbers that the study found are

• 51 percent of men text while driving
• 42 percent of women text while driving
• the 18 to 33 age group are most likely to text while driving
• 56 percent of black adults text while driving
• 58 percent of Hispanic adults text while driving
• 46 percent of white adults text while driving
• 44 percent of respondents have seen dangerous behavior as related to cell phones – Web browsing, video watching, picture-taking, or gaming. \

I hate to say this but I am not the least bit surprised with much of the findings in the study.

Adults more likely than teens to text and drive, men more than women is a post from: The Inquisitr

* Sort of. **

** Okay, not at all.

However, $250 will get you the Ferrari Wireless GT Cockpit 430 Scuderia Edition from peripheral specialists Thrustmaster. This beast weighs in at 23 pounds, and hits the track this June.

This gorgeous new cockpit ensemble is designed for PlayStation 3 and PC racing game fans, and consists of all-metal pedals and a wheel that is reportedly an “exact replica” of that found on the Ferrari 430 Scuderia.

In other words, it’s the ultimate in videogame steering wheels.***

*** Apart from this.

[Via Engadget]

Squeeze a Ferrari in your apartment for $250* is a post from: The Inquisitr

This is the Cruden Hexatech simulator, a $191,000 hydraulic rig that will let you simulate F1, NASCAR, WRC, and 24-hour races such as Le Mans. It comes loaded with three 42-inch screens, or the option to have images projected images onto the curved walls of a specially built room.

It offers exactly the kind of feedback you’d get from a real car, with chassis, track, tire, suspension, and brakes all considered. Check it out in motion below, and try to forget that $191,000 will bag you a (real) Ferrari 430:

[Via technabob]

[VIDEO] Own the ultimate driving game rig for a mere $191,000 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Over the last several years LED lights have been hailed as a must have for going green, they put out much less power and burn cooler than traditional incadescent lights, unfortunately for engineers that efficiency is causing problems in one specific area, traffic lights.

It turns out that several cold weather states that installed the LED lights didn’t realize that the cool burning bulbs wouldn’t melt snow like their older counterparts did.  This fact has led drivers in areas with snow to encounter stoplights that they couldn’t see thanks to snow mounting inside the lights canister.

Several drivers have been injured and one death has resulted from the LED installations. Tech experts are currently working on a fix, but in the meantime most drivers say they treat obstructed stoplights as they would stop signs, making them a little more safe for most drivers. [Gizmodo]

LED Traffic Lights Are Efficiently Inefficient During Snow Falls is a post from: The Inquisitr

Despite spendy penalties for scofflaws in New York State, I see people talking and texting while driving every day, usually when they’re going 17 miles under the speed limit in the left lane or blocking an exit ramp on the Southern State.

It’s difficult to avoid the distraction of your mobile phone, and people will text you several times if you don’t reply immediately. “Where R U?!?!” is generally followed by “OMG hello?” and “R U OK/mad?” all in the course of reaching a destination. I don’t know about your mom, but if I don’t reply immediately the first time she reaches out, she’ll just keep calling/texting until I do. Studies indicate that 81% of phone calls between me and my mom kick off with me asking “is everything alright?”

It used to be that there were periods of time where humans were unreachable. Whether while driving, in the bathroom, at the movies, shagging or between the hours of 9-6 when everyone was working, sometimes you didn’t have to get back in touch with someone immediately. While I personally do everything I can to combat the expectation that calls and texts are always urgent, sometimes you just need to get someone to STFU.

Enter Drivesafe.ly. This service, presently for Blackberries and Android phones and coming soon to iPhones and some Sprint gadget, reads your texts aloud to you when activated. (You don’t actually have to be driving while using it, so you can pretty much have all your texts read to you.) It works for e-mails, too, and if you’re transmitting to your car’s radio, you can hear your spouse reminding you to re-cap the toothpaste in vivid, clear surround sound. There are also auto-repliers, so you don’t have to type and drive to shut someone the hell up while you’re driving.

The app comes in both free and pro versions, with varying levels of functionality:

The basic version of DriveSafe.ly is free, and likely works well enough for most people. The free version reads up to 25 words per message and includes the optional text and e-mail auto-responder. The “pro” version reads up to 500 words per message, lets you choose between a female or male voice (the basic version has only the female voice) and lets you choose the voice used based on the gender of the person sending you a text or e-mail, and also includes the text and e-mail auto-responder. The pro version is available for a one-time fee of $13.95, or you can pay a $3.95 monthly subscription for it.

As I currently have an iPhone, I can’t give the app a spin (hurrr…) yet, but judging by the frantic e-mail from my ex-husband alerting me to the existence of it, perhaps I should as soon as it becomes available.

Drivesafe.ly provides texting while driving solution is a post from: The Inquisitr

Santa Barbara County Deputy District Attorney Lee Carter told TMZ that “they believe the prescription medications found in her system could have impaired her ability to safely drive a motor vehicle.”

SHe was busted on 27 September, after police found her blocking a freeway lane. She may have been emotional about the incident, but because of the whole botox one facial expression, police were unable to tell.

Heather Locklear Charged with Crime is a post from: The Inquisitr