Texting and driving impairs you as much as drinking, says study

It’s already been established that one should refrain from drunk texting. Drunk texting is the sort of activity that causes otherwise rational individuals to completely undermine their social life and end up on websites like this...forever.

As it turns out, however, there’s an even more dangerous connection between texting and drinking.

A new study, published in Traffic Injury Prevention journal, claims that texting while driving is comparable to being drunk while driving.

Australian researchers, in partnership with scientists from the University of Barcelona, suggest that even talking on a handsfree device while driving, isn’t as safe as we'd like believe.

Also see: St. Patty's has Canadians web searching ‘hangover cure’

Researchers tested this hypothesis by tapping 12 volunteers to participate in a two-day driving simulation test, each test a week apart from the other.

"When the conversation using a handsfree device was simple, the effects were comparable to a blood alcohol level of 0.04 grams per litre,” says study co-author Sumie Leung Shuk Man, a researcher at the University of Barcelona.

However, when more attention was required during the conversation, the participants experienced effects comparable to a blood alcohol level of 0.7 g/l. And when participants answered text messages, the rate stood at 1 g/l.

The legal blood alcohol limit in Canada is 0.08 mg/ml.

Participants of the study couldn’t be habitual boozers or, conversely, people who had never even had a sip of rum and Coke in their life.

For the first driving simulation test, participants consumed alcohol and their driving skills were measured accordingly. For the second, they used a mobile phone to either text or to have a hands-free conversation.

Also see: Aspirin may lower risk of skin cancer in women: study

Here’s how it worked: "[P]articipants, who were volunteer students holding a driving licence, had to keep their position in the centre of the left lane on the screen at a speed of between 60 and 80 kilometres per hour, breaking every time a lorry appeared," the scientist explains.

To simulate the hands-free effect, participants used a microphone and a pair of headphones.

To test how well they could concentrate while gabbing, a scientist would start a conversation with the participant. Dialogue that required more complex cognitive functioning, like listing friends whose names begin with a vowel, for example, resulted in the volunteers losing as much concentration on the road as if they’d had one too many at the bar.

The findings have led researchers to conclude that more testing needs to be done in order to determine how much mobile phones – even with a Bluetooth or car kit installed – should be regulated for road safety.

Or better yet – you could just refrain from unsheathing the phone until you arrive at your destination.