Quality Weenie

Friends Don't Let Friends Multitask While Driving

NHTSA: Multitasking Involved in 80 Percent of Crashes

If you're dialing a phone, eating or talking while driving, you're three times more likely to be in a car accident than an attentive driver, according to a new study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The NHTSA also reports, with its research partner, the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, that about 80 percent of accidents and 65 percent of near-misses occur within three seconds of a distraction to the driver. The most hazardous behavior is reaching for a moving object, which increases the risk of an accident ninefold. Drowsy drivers are four times as likely to have an accident or be involved in a near-miss. Drivers from 18 to 20 are four times more likely to be in accidents or near-misses than those over 35. The NHTSA and the university studied 241 drivers in 100 vehicles for more than a year.

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Posted by Quality Weenie at April 21, 2006 07:14 AM | TrackBack