Which? reveals danger of texting at the wheel

And is it worse than drink driving? We went to the Transport Research Laboratory in Berkshire to find out. We did four different tests in a simulator they were: talking hands free, talking on a hand held mobile, texting, and driving at the legal alcohol limit. Before we started the test We did a control run without distractions.

The simulator had three cameras watching the driver to see how much time they spent looking at the road and how quick their reactions were. The cameras were hooked up to a control room where TRL’s experts recorded each drivers performance. So, let’s see how we got on. It was significantly harder to drive, definitely.

Very noticeably much harder to drive and keep on doing everything without getting distracted. I found it really difficult because I was also trying to concentrate on the road and there were hazards such as cars pulling out, braking suddenly also had to try to keep the car in the center of the lane when going around corners and generally it was just a lot to concentrate on I did manage to stay on the road.

Even so, answering questions and generally conversing on the phone it was a lot more difficult than simply driving. I tried to do the headlight thing when I saw the red bar and trying to change lanes on motorway as well, doing all that and talk on the phone was really quite difficult. Difficult to maintain concentration on the road while speaking into the phone and getting accurate answers as well.

I found that difficult, but Towards the end I felt myself speeding up as well without realizing while I was there, having the conversation on the phone. I felt like I certainly had to concentrate more than when I had to solve those mental arithmetic problems that I had while talking on the hands free, but I’m sure it hasn’t impaired my reaction times

Really, it’s much more difficult to go round corners and spot Red bars that meant you were supposed to flash your headlights so much slower doing both of those things. One of the bends that we were supposed to take constant 40 miles an hour. I’ve just spun the car out, and crashed, which, even after a considerable amount of alcohol. I didn’t do. I definitely found it more difficult when I was texting, I’d swerve out in the lanes a couple of times and notice my speed increase, actually, as well.

and it was really, really difficult. Even trying to text one handed. It was really difficult trying to keep an eye on the road as well. You just I just wasn’t paying any attention to the road at all while I was texting. When driving at the legal alcohol limit we experience an 11% reduction in attention.

While using a mobile, handheld and hands free. This raised to a nineteen percent drop in attention when testing When texting this raised to a staggering seventy nine percent drop in attention. This was the only test when somebody actually crashed the car. Road deaths were up by nearly three percent in 2011. It’s the first they’ve gone up in nearly a decade.

One reason for this could be the growing number of people using mobile phones while driving. snapshot research shows just how dangerous it can be to drive while using a hand held mobile phone. We think that tougher action needs to be taken by the police and the government. Have your say by clicking the link below