The study reveals how the texting impairment is even greater than many experts believed, and demonstrates how texting drivers are less able to react to sudden roadway hazards.

In addition to the reaction-time element, researchers also measured each driver’s ability to maintain proper lane position and a constant speed. Major findings further documented the impairment of texting when compared to the controlled driving conditions. Drivers were less able to:

• Safely maintain their position in the driving lane when they were texting and their swerving was worse in the open sections of the course than in barreled sections.
• Maintain a constant speed while texting, tending to slow down in an effort to reduce the demand of the multiple tasks. By slowing down, a driver gains more time to correct for driving errors (such as the tendency to swerve while texting). Speed variance was also greater for texting drivers than for non-texting drivers.

 The study was conducted in an actual driving environment – an important factor in assessing the results, say the researchers who add that simulators can’t exactly replicate the dynamics of an actual vehicle.

In addition, participants were only required to drive an 11-mile course, with considerably less driving demands than real-world conditions.

Ed Dubens CEO at Interactive Driving Systems said: ‘This study emphasises the reasons why organisations requiring their drivers to travel for work purposes should take the issue very seriously as part of their worker health, wellbeing and safety programmes.’