“Every single time someone takes their eyes or their focus off the road –- even for just a few seconds –- they put their lives and the lives of others in danger. Distracted driving is unsafe, irresponsible and in a split second, its consequences can be devastating.”
Those are the words of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, featured on Distraction.gov, the official government website for distracted driving.
Surprisingly though, new data suggests that driver cell-phone bans already in place have not reduced the number of accidents. The Highway Loss Data Institute compared insurance claims in four states that have bans versus areas where drivers can talk freely. The research found no significant difference in the number of accidents.
“The laws aren’t reducing crashes, even though we know that such laws have reduced handheld phone use and several studies have established that phoning while driving increases crash risk,” said Adrian Lund, president of the Highway Loss Data Institute.
The institute is an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an influential nonprofit agency funded by the auto industry that crash-tests new cars to provide safety ratings for insurance companies and consumers.
Good Intentions, Poor Results
Bans against handheld cell-phone use are currently in effect in 17 states and the District of Columbia. At the same time, other states are considering limits on driver cell-phone use, and Congress is investigating the possibility of a nationwide texting-while-driving ban.
The institute said results from the new research weren’t intended to undermine such laws, but to point out that they may not have enough teeth.
The studies looked at claims in New York, Connecticut, California and Washington, D.C., both before and after the bans went into effect and compared them with claims in neighboring states with no ban. This method was intended to take into account factors not related to the…
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