Cops in the USA have a new radar that can tell if a driver is texting and driving at the same time.

Similar to speed radar, the "texting radar" comes from ComSonics, a Virginia-based company that has been building radars and all manner of technology for 40 years.

The texting radar won't have a hard time spotting cellular transmissions in a car since any mobile communication emits a distinct signal.

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This new device will be particularly useful in enforcing the new "no texting while driving" law in some states. This is because texting while driving has been identified as a potentially hazardous activity that risks the lives of many persons.

Laws against texting while driving are currently enforced in 33 states, including New York, California, Washington, Wisconsin and Nevada.

Malcolm McIntyre of ComSonics says the technology used for this radar is similar to that cable repairmen use to find destroyed cables.

If a rat were to bite through a cable, a repairman can easily find the damage by looking for the specific frequencies leaking in a transmission.

More than 3,000 people have died due to distraction-affected crashes, said the official government website for distracted driving, Distraction.gov.

Of those that survived, around 421,000 were injured in motor vehicle accidents due to distractions such as texting. This figure was a nine percent increase from the previous year's statistics.

TagsTexting while driving, ComSonics, Radar, Malcolm McIntyre