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Distracted Drivers Cause The Most Car Accidents, Study

By R. Siva Kumar | Update Date: Feb 25, 2016 08:47 AM EST

You will be amazed at what causes the maximum number of car accidents. Texting and driving, according to the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. Though everyone knows that texting can be very distracting, few know that it leads to the maximum number of accidents.

Well, now you know!

This was the "Second Strategic Highway Research Program Naturalistic Driving Study," that studied three years of footage taken by cars with cameras and special sensors, reported TreeHugger. What exposed them to the maximum number of accidents was: "reaching to grab something, being on the phone, texting, navigating a car's touch screen and being emotionally distressed."

"The distractions that take a driver's eyes away from the roadway for an extended period of time create the greatest crash risk," said Tom Dingus, the author of the study.

People are involved in distracting behavior 68 percent of the time when they are behind the wheel. About 75 percent of crashes have to do with errors.

Dr. Karen Sheehan, a supporter of the study, called the findings "shocking". "Since these people volunteered to be in the study and consented to be filmed, they are probably better drivers than non-volunteers. This is a scary thought because the study participants participate in plenty of less-than-model driving behaviors," said Sheehan.

"These findings are important because we see a younger population of drivers, particularly teens, who are more prone to engaging in distracting activities while driving. Our analysis shows that, if we take no steps in the near future to limit the number of distracting activities in a vehicle, those who represent the next generation of drivers will only continue to be at greater risk of a crash," said Dingus, according to EurekAlert.

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