While both can result in death, drunk driving may be safer only because your eyes are glued to the road. Recently Car & Driver did some testing and found out that texting is very, very unsafe. Duh! Full read in the jump!

A road test run by Car & Driver magazine showed dramatically slower reaction times by two test drivers who tried to brake while reading and, separately, writing text messages. Previous studies on DWT have typically been run in car simulators. The magazine believes its study may be the first conducted in a real vehicle on a stretch of road.

To cover different age ranges, two separate tests were set up on a road course--one with 22-year-old Jordan Brown, a Car & Driver intern, the other with the magazine's 37-year-old editor-in-chief, Eddie Alterman.

Using a Honda Pilot as the test vehicle, both drivers first drove a straight line and were told to hit the brake in response to a light that flashed on the dashboard. That measured their baseline reaction time. The second test had the drivers read a text message while driving; the third asked them to type a message while behind the wheel.

An additional test also compared the effects of DWT with driving while intoxicated, on the same day under the same road conditions. After downing enough alcohol to become legally drunk, the test subjects took to the road again.

The results showed that at 35 mph, it took a sober Brown an extra 21 feet to hit the brake while reading a text message, and an extra 16 feet while typing a message.

At 70 mph, it took him 30 extra feet to jam on the brake while reading a text, and an extra 31 feet while composing.

Those figures compared with an extra 7 feet at 35 mph and an extra 15 feet at 70 mph while intoxicated. However, in his drunken condition, Brown had to be told twice which lane to drive in--a dangerous scenario if he had been in actual traffic.

At 35 mph, a sober Alterman took an extra 188 feet to step on the brake while reading a text, and an extra 90 feet while typing a message.

At 70 mph, he took an extra 129 feet to hit the brake while reading a message, and an additional 319 feet while writing one.

While intoxicated, it took him at extra 7 feet at 35 mph and an extra 15 feet at 70 mph.

"In our test, neither of us had any idea texting would slow down our reaction time so much," said Alterman. "Like most folks, we believe we are good drivers, but the real key to driving safely is keeping your eyes and your mind on the road. Text messaging distracts any driver from those primary tasks."

Car & Driver also noted the relatively safe conditions of its test, compared with driving in the real world. The two subjects drove down a straight line without other cars, signals, or pedestrians.

Source: Car and Driver via CNET

Actor Shia LaBeouf was at the Troubadour club watching the Lemon Son band on Santa Monica Blvd in L.A. Saturday night before the crash that flipped his truck and resulted in the star needing extensive hand surgery.

"He was dancing around and acting really crazy," a source commented. "He kept doing shots of whiskey. He stayed until the band was done and then stumbled out of the club by himself."

Who was riding shotgun? "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" Aussie-born co-star Isabel Lucas. Yeah, google her. She's hot, but still stupid for getting into the car with him.

This picture was NOT taken after the accident but I can see how it could be mistaken as such. Ooh, low blow.

A car has plowed into a bike race along a highway near the US-Mexico border, killing one and injuring 10 others.

Police investigator Jose Alfredo Rodriguez says the 28-year-old driver was apparently drunk and fell asleep when he crashed into the race. A photograph taken by a city official shows bicyclists and equipment being hurled high in to the air by the collision.

Hope this guy gets a kick to the grill! Very sad.

Source: Yahoo

GTA IV fever is far from over, and the controversies are still pouring in. But for one organization, it’s not the sexual content or graphic violence of the game that they find objectionable, it’s the in-game drunk driving. MADD, or Mothers Against an Average Weekend, released this statement today:

True enough, but does it really qualify — over the other, more obvious questionable material in the game — as something that should have a dreaded AO rating?

Source: CrunchGear

The upper Midwest has the worst drunken driving rates in the country, according to a government report that says 15 percent of adult drivers nationally report driving under the influence of alcohol in the previous year.

Wisconsin leads the way. The federal government estimates more than a quarter of the state's adult drivers had driven under the influence. Rounding out the worst five are North Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and South Dakota. More after the jump.

Utah had the lowest incidence of drunken driving. It was the only state where fewer than 10 percent of adult motorists reported driving under the influence. Following closely behind were a slew of Southern states that often fare poorly when it comes to government health statistics. This time, however, they're serving as models. West Virginia, Arkansas, Kentucky and North Carolina all had drunken driving rates for the prior year of less than 11 percent.

The report on drunken driving relies on data obtained from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. The survey, based on a scientific random sample of households, asked 127,283 adults in 2004, 2005 and 2006 whether they had driven under the influence in the past year. Health experts say the state-by-state breakdowns support other surveys showing that residents in northern states are more likely to engage in heavy alcohol consumption.

Source: Yahoo

Sean Combs, alias P Diddy, alias Puff Daddy, alias Puffy, P Jiffy Pop, whatever the hell else he goes by.. is launching a car service to make sure drunk celebs get home safe after a night of hard partying.

A rep for Diddy says, "He wants to make sure everyone's partying responsibly."

No word yet if regular folks like us are allowed to use his services. It's probably going to be a rip off anyway, a cab will be a fraction of the price.

Source: HollyScoop