Dialing On Cell Phones Or Applying Make-Up Increase Crash Risk

A report by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute says that people who talk on cell phones or apply makeup while they drive are thrice as likely to crash as compared to those whop focus on driving.

Researchers studied 241 drivers in 100 sensor-equipped vehicles, which were involved in 82 crashes and 761 near-crashes, according to CNN. The research found that reaching for a moving object while driving increased accident risk nine times, while dialing or applying make-up tripled it. Almost 80 percent of the crashes and 65 percent of the near-crashes in the study happened within a few moments of the driver getting distracted. Cell phones were the most common form of distraction.