Multitasking is a key technique in the quest to save time. But the phenomenon of texting behind the steering wheel, called “DWT” or driving while texting, has taken on a life of its own — leading to accidents and laws that seek to rein the trend in.

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The YouTube video was shown by all the media. There she was walking through a shopping mall while busily texting, when suddenly she fell into a fountain. Not satisfied to remain incognito, Cathy Cruz Marrero decided to reveal herself to the media and is considering suing the mall.

Marrero joins a growing number of people who are succumbing to the charming habit of walking while texting, a trend that’s now grabbing worldwide attention. In Feb. 2007, a woman fell onto subway tracks while carelessly texting away on her cell phone and colliding with a man on a Tokyo platform.

In 2006, The Wall Street Journal declared that DWT, or Driving While Texting, is the new DUI — or the new “driving under the influence.”

According to a June 2009 study by Car and Driver driving while texting is significantly more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol drugs. Drivers texting messages are 3-4 times slower than drunk drivers to apply brakes to avoid a collision.

According to an NHTSA and Virginia Tech study, text messaging increases the risk of a car accident or near-accident 23.2 times when compared to accidents involving non-distracted drivers.

On Aug. 14, 2010, Dr. Frank Ryan, a plastic surgeon who treated Heidi Montag and other celebrities, was driving on Pacific Coast Highway while sending a tweet about his border collie. Ryan lost control of his jeep and and became the latest victim of the driving while texting (DWT) trend. His collie survived.

In Sept. 2008, Robert Sanchez sent a text message 22 seconds before crashing his L.A. metro train, killing 25 people. A Boston trolley driver was texting his girlfriend when he rear-ended another Green Line trolley in May 2009, sending scores of people to the hospital.

Then there are the untold young victims of DWT. America’s most notorious texting incident was that of five high-school cheerleaders, who died in an automobile accident in western New York after driver Bailey Goodman sent a text message at 10:05:52 pm and received an answer at 10:06:29.

Thirty-eight seconds later, someone called 911 to report the accident that killed Bailey and her friends. In the U.K., 19-year-old Rachel Begg killed Maureen Waites, a 64-year-old grandmother because she sent nine text messages in 15 minutes while driving at 70 mph on a rainy night. In July 2007, she was sentenced to four years in a U.K. prison.

A July 2007 Liberty Mutual study of more than 900 teens found that nearly 50% admitted to driving while texting.

A 2009 survey conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that 95% considered driving while texting unacceptable behavior, yet 21% admitted to having recently texted or sent e-mail while driving.

But that figure may be low. Vlingo reports that 35% of mobile phone users continued to text behind the wheel in 2010, up from 26% in 2009.

The same survey also found 87% of people believe drivers texting or e-mailing pose a “very serious threat,” nearly equaling the 90% who consider drunken drivers a threat. 

A growing number of states are outlawing the practice. About 30 states, D.C. and Guam ban text messaging for all drivers.

Our multitasking world has become so enamored with instant social interaction that it’s willing to risk death and injury to stay in touch.