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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Study finds distractions greatest cause of car crashes


Researcher Dr. Charlie Klauer sits inside a test vehicle equipped with a complex data acquisition system – including cameras, radar and a
Michael Dresser Baltimore Sun

If you’re reading this article while cruising down the road, please don’t.

According to a research project that trained 100 “candid cameras” on motorists for more than a year, reading while driving increases the risk of a crash or near-crash more than threefold.

That finding was just one detail in a landmark study of driver behavior that determined nearly 80 percent of automobile crashes and 65 percent of close calls involve distracted driving, ranging from dialing a cell phone to putting on makeup to sleepiness.

The four-year study, released Thursday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, also indicates that drowsiness might be far more prevalent as a cause of accidents than police statistics indicate. According to the study, drowsiness raises the risk of a crash at least fourfold.

The project, billed as the most comprehensive of its kind to date, also provides fodder for both sides of the debate over whether to ban cell phone use while driving.

The study implicated cell phone use in about 7 percent of accidents. But it found that while the act of talking by phone poses a statistically insignificant risk, the act of dialing while driving raises the danger of an accident or close call by almost three times.

Cell phones are far from the only culprit identified in the report. Using cameras mounted in 100 test vehicles lent to drivers in northern Virginia and the District of Columbia, the study assessed the risk of crashes and near-crashes from distractions including eating, drinking, smoking and using electronic devices.

The voluminous study, which followed 241 drivers as they drove more than 2 million miles, provides a wealth of data that sometimes challenges and sometimes confirms conventional wisdom about human behavior behind the wheel. The cameras recorded 82 crashes – none fatal – as well as 761 near-crashes and 8,295 “critical incidents,” which roughly translates to driver errors.

Among the findings:

•While men are involved in more crashes overall, women were more likely to be in accidents caused by inattention. Other studies have shown that the downfall of male drivers is frequently speed.

•Dialing a cell phone is one of the more dangerous things a driver can do, but applying makeup while behind the wheel is even riskier. The study found that dialing drivers had 2.8 times the crash or near-crash risk of fully attentive drivers, while those applying cosmetics were 3.1 times more dangerous than undistracted motorists.

•Eating while driving seems marginally more dangerous than merely talking on a cell phone (1.6-to-1 odds vs. 1.3-to-1). Drinking while driving – presuming the beverage isn’t alcoholic – appears to add no risk. But if your soda can goes tumbling, let it go. The most dangerous distraction identified in the study is reaching for a moving object, which increases the odds of a crash or close call almost ninefold.

•Smokers, blamed for everything from stinky clothes to other people’s cancer, can breathe easier. The study found no evidence that puffing makes them more dangerous drivers.