A Wichita State University professor is helping prove just how dangerous texting while driving really is.
By using a driving simulator, Dr. Alex Chaparro sends the test subjects text messages while they try to change lanes. He's found drivers look away from the road about 50 times within a five minute period, sometimes missing instructions from the simulator.
"That could be a deer running across the road, that could be a child pulling out from behind a parked vehicle that could a vehicle that suddenly changed lanes while you were looking in your lap to respond your text message," he said.
The study also found voice recognition technology does not help drivers keep their eyes on the road. It found drivers look at the screens for longer periods of time to make sure the speech to text function worked properly.
According to a national study done by AT&T, 43 percent of teens text while they drive. According to Wichita State's study, teens performed particularly poorly in these simulations.
