Text messaging, driver distraction

Because text messaging requires visual, manual, and cognitive attention from the driver, it is by far the most alarming distraction. 

As a priority, the Australian public should be made aware that text messaging is potentially more dangerous than using a hand-held phone, and that hands-free phones are just as risky as hand-held phones. The immediate focus should be on those groups most vulnerable to distraction e.g., inexperienced drivers). 

Hosking, S., Young, K. and Regan, M. (2005), The Effects of Text Messaging on Young Novice Driver Performance, in The Proceedings of the International Driver Distraction Conference, 2-3 June, Austraha Sydney. 

The advent of many new in-vehicle sources of distraction in the form of entertainment, navigation, and communications systems is a good reason to focus on their contribution to driver inattention and distraction, and on the potential methods to deal with their effects. The abundant amount of research on cell phone distractions, and the little research that has been conducted on navigation and text-messaging systems, have shown the extent of the risk that these distraction sources pose, and some directions to pursue in order to reduce tiiese risks. 

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