Study: fiddle with your iPod while driving and you might crash
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Oct 5, 2008 at 6:23pm
Uh, I think I could have told them this and saved a lot of time and money, but a Massachusetts researcher says that using an iPod while operating a vehicle can dramatically increase a driver’s chance of getting into an accident, reports UPI.com.
Engineer Donald L. Fisher of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst said by studying experienced drivers accustomed to using the music devices, he found nearly everyone focused on the device for a full two seconds at least once while driving, The Boston Globe reported Sunday. Researchers have found that by not focusing on the road for two seconds or more, a driver is three times more likely to get into an accident.
Another study conducted by Fisher found that novice drivers are even more prone to distractions while driving, the Globe reported. By observing the travel behaviors of a group of drivers between the age of 16 and 18, Fisher says he found that 55 percent of the inexperienced drivers took their eyes off the road for a dangerous length of time due to an in-vehicle distraction.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
