Well, Lemme tell you I was surprised….

The Associated Press reported the following findings from a new study on driving,

For more than a year, researchers studied the behavior of the drivers of 100 vehicles in metropolitan Washington, D.C. They tracked 241 drivers, who were involved in 82 crashes of various degrees of seriousness — 15 were reported to police — and 761 near-crashes. The air bag deployed in three instances.

The project analyzed nearly 2 million miles driven and more than 43,300 hours of data.

They found that the risk of a crash increases almost threefold when a driver is dialing a cell phone.

Assessing cell phone use, the researchers said the number of crashes or near-crashes linked to dialing the phones was nearly identical to those tied to talking or listening on the phone.

Some safety organizations said the study was part of a growing body of research and worried it might lead to reactionary laws.

“I urge legislators not to interpret these results as a need for new legislative initiatives. It is simply not good public policy to pass laws addressing every type of driver behavior,” said Lt. Col. Jim Champagne, chairman of the Governors Highway Safety Association.

Me, myself, I find this disgusting. But don’t take my word for it, read it for yourself here! Oh, and, Aunt Mary, this was for you. 😉 Hang up the phone and drive, Amerika, cause the person you hurt, maim, mutilate or kill, might be me!