![\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/photos\/uncategorized\/2008\/05\/16\/cellphone.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/photos\/uncategorized\/2008\/05\/16\/cellphone.jpg\")
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Think your commute is safer now that California requires drivers to use hands-free cellphones? <\/p>\n
Think again. <\/p>\n
A new study from the nonprofit Highway Loss Data Institute found that rates of crashes before and after the landmark law took effect in 2008 have not significantly changed.
\nIt also found that the trend of California\u2019s crashes before and after the law followed that of neighboring states — like Arizona and Nevada — that do not have bans on hand-held phones. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe laws aren\u2019t reducing crashes, even though we know that such laws have reduced hand-held phone use, and several studies have established that phoning while driving increases crash risk,\u201d Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and its affiliate, the data institute, said in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf crash risk increases with phone use and fewer drivers use phones where it\u2019s illegal to do so, we would expect to see a decrease in crashes. But we aren\u2019t seeing it. … We\u2019re currently gathering data to figure out this mismatch,\u201d Lund said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The group, which receives claims information from more than 80% of the nation\u2019s insurers, looked at data on crashes involving cars that are brand-new to 3 years old, and concluded that there is no evidence the hands-free rule is reducing crashes. <\/p>\n
About 1.7 million claims in all were used for the study, according to officials with the group.
\nIn California there were slightly more than eight crashes per 100 vehicles 18 months before the ban on hand-held phones went into effect. <\/p>\n
Twelve months after the law, there were about 7.5 crashes per 100 vehicles, the study shows.
\nAuthors of the study were quick to point out that the slight decline in crashes follows a similar trend in neighboring states where there is no such ban. <\/p>\n
In Arizona, Nevada and Oregon (which recently passed its own ban), there were a little over seven crashes per 100 vehicles 18 months before the ban was passed in California. Twelve months after the ban in California, there were a little over five crashes per 100 vehicles in those three states, the study shows. <\/p>\n
— Ari B. Bloomekatz<\/p>\n
Credit for 2007 photo: Los Angeles Times <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Think your commute is safer now that California requires drivers to use hands-free cellphones? Think again. A new study from the nonprofit Highway Loss Data Institute found that rates of crashes before and after the landmark law took effect in 2008 have not significantly changed. It also found that the trend of California\u2019s crashes before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4131,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-248173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248173","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\/4131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}