Maryland and Virginia rank 4th and 6th in the country, respectively, for drivers whose hands are not on the wheel. More than 35% of drivers in both states have admitted to texting while driving. The survey, conducted by Vlingo, a voice-recognition software company, says that 36% of Maryland drivers text and drive and 35.6% of Virginia drivers have the same habit.
Frank Drews, of the University of Utah has studied the texting and driving phenomena and believes that drivers are 50% more likely to be involved in an accident while texting than they are while on the phone. Drivers who are texting are 6 times more likely than those who are not to be involved in an accident.