Cellphone Bans No Boost for Road Safety

Laws banning drivers from using handheld cellphones while behind the wheel don't help to reduce crashes, a study by the Highway Loss Data Institute has found.

The institute, which is affiliated with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), calculated monthly collision claims in New York, the District of Columbia, Connecticut and California before and after these states passed such laws.

They compared this data to data from nearby jurisdictions that do not have specific laws banning the use of the devices.

The results indicated that there were no reductions in crashes after laws requiring drivers to switch to hands-free cellphone usage were passed.

That was little short of stunning for the IIHS. "We are very surprised at our findings," institute spokesperson Anne Fleming told TechNewsWorld. "We were among the people who conducted the first study that indicated using a cellphone increased the risk of a crash four-fold."
Details of the Study

The IIHS report based on the study states that the risk of crashing goes up four times when a driver is talking on a cellphone whether or not a hands-free device is used. However, while cellphone usage has tripled since 2000, the risk of crashes has declined.

While state bans on handheld phone usage by drivers has cut such usage by between one-third and one half, the number of collision claims has not declined, the study found.

The IIHS began looking at crashes long before and after certain jurisdictions passed laws against handheld cellphone use.

In New York, for example, the study looked at a period from 22 months before the state enacted a handheld cellphone ban on drivers to 25 months after the law was passed, Fleming said. In California, the study began 18 months before the state enacted its handheld cellphone ban on drivers and continued for 12 months after the law was passed.