Know How Much You’re Texting While Driving? U-M Study Says No
ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Texting while driving is a serious threat to public safety, but a new University of Michigan study suggests that we might not be aware of our actions.
U-M researchers found that texting while driving is predicted by a person’s level of “habit”—more so than how much someone texts.
When people check their cell phones without thinking about it, the habit represents a type of automatic behavior, or automaticity, the researchers say. Automaticity, which was the key variable in the study, is triggered by situational cues and lacks control, awareness, intention and attention. (more…)