Deseret News: Wendy Leonard

Texting and driving are two things that cannot be done at the same time, at least not psychologically.
Those are the findings of new research from the University of Utah that will be published this week. The research is the first peer-reviewed study that details the psychological effects of texting while driving.

“When we look at dual-tasking — doing two things at once — there is a limited amount of attention that we can dedicate to each of those tasks,” said Frank Drews, associate professor of psychology at the U. “With text messaging and driving, it’s not one or the other; it’s either, or.”
Our brains, he said, can’t maintain control of one while doing the other.

“During the time people are text messaging, they are driving blind,” Drews said, adding that when performing both those tasks, attention and efforts are switched between the two and not shared, as in other tasks.

The hazards of texting while driving continue to receive broad national and international attention as accident rates attributed to this practice increase. Utah law already bans texting while driving, and most people already know it isn’t safe, but new U. research actually quantifies the risk.

“People who text message while driving are six times more likely to get into a crash than people who are not text messaging while driving,” Drews said. Not only are they more likely to have or cause an accident, but texting while driving decreases response times to traffic signals and brake lights by about 20 to 30 percent, according to Drews’ study, which used 40 participants in simulated driving situations. Talking on the phone while driving slows reflexes by about 9 to 10 percent, much less than that of text messaging, which requires more attention to execute.

The study also found that drivers who text have difficulty maintaining lateral control of their vehicle, which causes them to swerve within and often out of their lane of travel, having two times as many lane crosses as usual, Drews said.

“It’s the first peer-reviewed research that has said why texting while driving is unsafe and how it is unsafe,” he said. “It leads to a degradation of driving ability.”

Drews has been researching the effects of dual-tasking for more than a decade and is specifically focused on how people sacrifice performance on one task to do another. In addition to texting and talking on the phone while driving, he has looked at the behavior of multi-tasking intensive-care nurses. Like some things in life, he said, traffic is not forgiving.

It is estimated that more than 6,000 people die every year as a consequence of multi-tasking while driving, and many more are injured by another. However, those figures cannot be proven because some circumstances are unknown and not all people who cause road deaths admit what they were doing before an accident occurs, Drews said.

Unfortunately, drivers have to look out for themselves and be aware of any distracted drivers around them.
“They are putting a significant burden on everyone else to keep themselves safe,” Drews said. Distracted drivers often increase their following distance from other cars, move more slowly than other traffic and move more within their lanes, among other signs…

“You want to get away from those drivers,” Drews said. Drivers who are text messaging, he said, aren’t prepared to react to unpredictable situations and therefore won’t in the case of a potential accident.
“People who are using a cell phones while driving have an impaired ability to self-monitor what they are doing,” he said. “Their ability to criticize their own performance is impaired.”

Drews’ research, performed with several other psychologists and researchers at the U., is available online and will be published in the upcoming issue of Human Factors, from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.

The Spectrum newspaper reported the following recent accidents:

A traffic accident with damages was reported Sunday on southbound I-15 near mile marker 51.

A traffic accident with damages was reported Sunday on the 1200 South block of Dixie Drive.

A traffic accident with injuries was reported Saturday on northbound I-15 near mile marker 4.

A traffic accident with damages was reported Saturday at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Bluff Street.

A traffic accident with damages was reported Saturday on the 2700 East block of Red Cliffs Drive.

A traffic accident with injuries was reported Saturday at the intersection of South River Road and East Commerce Drive.

A traffic accident hit and run was reported Saturday at the 2400 East block of Red Cliffs Drive.

A traffic accident with injuries was reported Saturday on the 1100 East block of Riverside Drive.

A traffic accident with damages was reported Saturday at the intersection of West Sunset Boulevard and Dixie Downs Road.

“Is any message worth losing your life over?” Reggie Shaw asked Dixie High School students.

Three years ago, Reggie Shaw was responsible for the deaths of two men as he was sending and receiving text messages while driving in Cache County.

Students at Dixie High School had the opportunity to hear his story firsthand earlier this month during an assembly according to an article in The Spectrum.

Shaw said he was 19 years old when the accident happened. He was off to work, just like any other day.

“I made the choice to text and drive,” he said. “I’d done it before and didn’t think it was dangerous.”

While on his way to work, Shaw crossed the center line and hit the oncoming vehicle. The vehicle spun and was hit by the vehicle behind Shaw.

“These two men were husbands and fathers,” he said.

Shaw was charged with negligent homicide. He served 30 days in jail and was required to do 100 hours of community service. His service has been talking to youth about the dangers of texting while driving.

“It’s been three years (since the accident), and it (talking about it) never gets easier. This assembly is no easier than the first one,” Shaw said.

He added he hopes he makes a difference.

“It really helps me come to peace with what happened, knowing I might be saving someone else’s life,” Shaw said.

Along with telling his story, he presented facts about car accidents in Utah. According to his presentation, there are DUI accidents every three hours, and people are injured by another in distracted driving accidents every 94 minutes.

Some students were impacted by Shaw’s presentation. T.J. Norton, 16, said he’s tried to text and drive but he doesn’t have the coordination.

“This was impactful because it was a real person, not just a generic person tell you texting is bad,” he said.

Macy Keith, 17, said Shaw’s message was powerful.

“I’ve texted while driving before,” she said. “I try not to, though. It scares me.”

The assembly was part of Red Ribbon Week, a week dedicated to remembering the dangers and prevention of drugs and alcohol abuse.