Many apps on cellphones now provide for voice-to-text allowing an individual to speak directly into the phone’s microphone and have that message converted to text message. These applications are so popular among many different types of cellphone users today, and this is why more and more of the cellular devices today have these already built in.

A lot of their popularity has to do with the desire to reduce car accidents associated with texting and driving. It is already well known by many individuals that texting and driving requires drivers to take their eyes off the road for at least five seconds at a time and can generate serious accidents.

In theory, this voice-to-text concept might help to prevent accidents because the driver can focus on the road while speaking into the phone but a new study from the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University indicates that voice-to-text can be just as dangerous as texting while driving. The study was conducted in a simulated environment and determined driver reaction times while texting as well as using voice-to-text apps. 43 participants were involved in the study and voice-to-text application users had just as high of an accident likelihood as other individuals.