{"id":246868,"date":"2010-01-29T13:19:29","date_gmt":"2010-01-29T18:19:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ridelust.com\/?p=35433"},"modified":"2010-01-29T13:19:29","modified_gmt":"2010-01-29T18:19:29","slug":"highway-loss-data-institute-cell-phone-bans-don%e2%80%99t-reduce-crashes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/246868","title":{"rendered":"Highway Loss Data Institute: Cell Phone Bans Don\u2019t Reduce Crashes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ridelust.com\/highway-loss-data-institute-cell-phone-bans-don%e2%80%99t-reduce-crashes\/teen-talking-on-cell-phone-while-driving\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-35434\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ridelust.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/teen-talking-on-cell-phone-while-driving.jpg\" alt=\"cell phone driver\" title=\"teen-talking-on-cell-phone-while-driving\" width=\"424\" height=\"299\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-35434\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, researchers at the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) have determined that laws banning the use of handheld cell phones while driving do not reduce crash rates (press release <a href=\"http:\/\/www.iihs.org\/news\/rss\/pr012910.html\">here).<\/a>  Rather than utilizing real world accident data, the HLDI researchers studied \u201creductions in observed phone use following bans\u201d to determine what the anticipated reduction in accidents should be.  Presumably, by their math, observing 30% fewer drivers on handheld cell phones should produce 30% fewer accidents.<\/p>\n<p>What-the-everloving-f*ck?  By this logic, if I look out my window and don\u2019t see a serial killer, I can presume that serial killers don\u2019t exist.  Likewise, if I see 30% fewer cars on Sunday, I can state that the number of cars in my city has decreased by 30%.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-35433\"><\/span>Let\u2019s examine the facts.  Handheld cell phone bans are as widely ignored as the old 55 mile per hour speed limit was.  I\u2019ve lived in states that have enacted bans, and have never seen a reduction in the number of drivers on cell phones, regardless of the law.  In terms of enforcement, unless there\u2019s a local campaign to target cell phone driving, you\u2019re about as likely to get a ticket for cell phone use as you are for jaywalking.<\/p>\n<p>Studies from as far back as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2005\/12\/051209113320.htm\">2005<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/news.cnet.com\/8301-10784_3-6090342-7.html\">2006<\/a> have documented that use of cell phones is as dangerous as driving drunk.  Other <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2008\/03\/080305104905.htm\">studies<\/a> seem to indicate that even \u201chands free\u201d devices don\u2019t solve  the problem; the human brain is simply not wired to multitask this way.<\/p>\n<p>A 2009 test by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.caranddriver.com\/features\/09q2\/texting_while_driving_how_dangerous_is_it_-feature\">Car and Driver<\/a> (admittedly less than 100% scientific) showed even more dramatic results from texting and driving; one test subject had double the reaction time while texting than he did while driving under the influence.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know about you, but I get all the proof I need every time I get behind the wheel.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/WZN4pDADeeRpXPO4mPNSpweaHS8\/0\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/WZN4pDADeeRpXPO4mPNSpweaHS8\/0\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap=\"true\"><\/img><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/WZN4pDADeeRpXPO4mPNSpweaHS8\/1\/da\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feedads.g.doubleclick.net\/~a\/WZN4pDADeeRpXPO4mPNSpweaHS8\/1\/di\" border=\"0\" ismap=\"true\"><\/img><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, researchers at the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) have determined that laws banning the use of handheld cell phones while driving do not reduce crash rates (press release here). Rather than utilizing real world accident data, the HLDI researchers studied \u201creductions in observed phone use following bans\u201d to determine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2161,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246868\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}