Remember when using a cellphone while driving was supposed to be a bad as driving drunk? So some states, including Washington State, have mandated no hand held cell phone usage while driving (it's still okay to use a hands-free device).
The Wall Street Journal today has a piece (sub might be required) about how those cell phone bans have not reduced crashes:
[A] study released recently by the Highway Loss Data Institute and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety . . . found no significant reduction in accident claims in states that have banned the use of hand-held cellphones behind the wheel.
Really!
In New York state, for example, the legislature forbade motorists to use hand-held mobile phones while driving in November 2001. Driver phone use fell by an estimated 47%, the HLDI/IIHS study found. Yet while monthly collision claims in New York did show a decline after the ban, that drop had actually begun before the ban was enacted.
In California, a hand-held cellphone ban became law in July 2008. But HLDI found "no notable change was apparent" because of the ban. Likewise, accident claims in Connecticut and Washington, D.C., didn't show a significant change in accident claims after the bans, or compared to other states that had no cellphone bans.
So why are we banning cellphone usage while driving? Because politicians always have to DO SOMETHING about any problem, perceived or real. And thanks to this study, we're probably in for more politicians doing SOMETHING:
Some in the safety community say the failure to see lower crash rates suggests stronger enforcement is needed. Others suggest that the ban on holding a phone doesn't attack the real problem, which is the distraction of talking to someone who's not in the car. The study's results could give ammunition to those who say that future legislation or regulation on distracted driving needs to have a broader focus than just holding a handset.
In other words, ban cellphone usage even with hands-free devices.
Now Washington State has a ban on texting while driving which I completely agree with. But banning cellphone usage totally just doesn't make sense. Unless you're also going to ban smoking, eating, and talking to people in the car while driving, too.
The insurance industry mouthpiece the Highway Loss Data Institute used data only on vehicles up to 3 years old. In multiple-car families the age was cut in half. Also, this study did not reflect accidents in which no insurance collision claim was made. Any high school kid taking statistics can tell you this data is nonsense. Interesting, also, how they dismissed lower accident rates in NY and Connecticut as part of other trends. Sorry, but you have to be as dumb as some moron driving while yammering away on a cell phone to believe this stuff.
Posted by: HFI guy | February 05, 2010 at 12:44 AM