By Matt Hawes
According to Markham Heid of the Washington Examiner:
The Highway Loss Data Institute examined insurance claim records in D.C., New York, Connecticut and California, as well as nearby areas lacking cell phone bans.
The findings: Cell phone bans don’t lower crash rates.
“We looked at states that have had hand-held cell phone bans in place for the longest times,” said Russ Rader, a representative of the Highway Loss Data Institute, which is a research wing of the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “We found that there was no change in the crash trends before compared to after the laws banning cell phone use were put in place.”….
This data is not surprising, but it’s good to see such a headline in the news. Time for people to be honest about why cell phone bans are pushed so much: 1.)To enhance state revenues through handing out tickets and to build up the power of the state and 2.)To make nanny state proponents feel good.