80% of crashes caused by distraction

[squeefoo]

Cell Phone Users 4 Times More Likely to Crash"This isn't intuitive. You'd think using a hands-free phone would be less distracting, so it wouldn't increase crash risk as much as using a hand-held phone. But we found that either phone type increased the risk," said Anne McCartt, IIHS Vice President for Research and an author of the study. http://www.mobiledia.com/news/32844.html

Almost 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes happen within three seconds of some form of driver distraction, according to the report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. The two research groups monitored the behavior of 241 drivers in 100 vehicles for more than a year. During the 2 million miles of the study, the drivers were involved in 82 crashes and 761 near-crashes.

Reaching for a moving object multiplied the risk of a crash or near-crash by nine times, according to the study. Reading, applying makeup, or dialing a handheld device tripled the risk.[..]"But also we're very concerned about the fact that not only are we drinking our coffee and we're disciplining our children and we're eating sandwiches in the car, but the proliferation of technologies in the vehicle have just exacerbated the amount of time that drivers are distracted," she said.[...]The study found that drivers between 18 and 20 were four times as likely to have inattention-related crashes and near-crashes as drivers over 35.

Poor judgment, such as driving aggressively or trying to do something in a higher risk situation, was far more prevalent among the youngest, the evidence showed.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/04/....html

[maxnix]

Gee, and I thought it was primarliy driver inattention.

[Raxephon]

Cell Phone Users 4 Times More Likely to Crash

Hence the reason it has been illegal to drive and use a cell phone at the same time, in Czech Republic since 1999.

For being one of the most advanced country's in the world we sure are behind on a few things.

Sidenote: I watched a late model RX7 get totalled yesterday because the driver couldn't see 3 lanes of traffic a half mile long stopped.

No idea if a phone was involved or not. But I'm pretty sure the lack of attention was.