As for me – it’s too early to judge… As for me, it’s too complicated to prosecute. As far as I can see – people still use their cellphones while driving. They talk and text, and get in trouble.
How many time have you noted someone, whose driving style was insulting least to say… and then you noticed that person was on the phone? Although, it’s believed that talking on speakerphone is okay and safer, still road hazards are there, waiting for us to happen.
However, a study released Tuesday by the Highway Loss Data Institute found no reductions in crashes in states that put laws in place to ban texting while driving.
U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has dismissed the group’s latest study, saying the report is “completely misleading” and that texting bans, when enforced, are working.
In its report, the HLDI reported it found the texting bans enacted by 30 states and the District of Columbia since 2004 were not effective and that such bans are associated with a slight increase in the frequency of insurance claims filed under collision coverage for damage to vehicles in crashes.
The finding was based on comparison of claims in four states—California, Louisiana, Minnesota and Washington—before and after the texting ban was put in place compared with patterns of claims in nearby states with no ban.
In its study, researchers at Arlington, Va.-based HLDI calculated rates of collision claims for vehicles up to nine years old during the months immediately before and after driver texting was banned in those four states, while collecting comparable data in nearby states without a ban during the same time period.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, distracted driving-related crashes killed nearly 5,500 people in 2009. It also reported that distracted driving-related fatalities jumped from 10% to 16% of all traffic fatalities between 2005 and 2008 and that 2009 was the first time in four years that distracted driving fatalities stopped rising.
Despite DOT efforts to prove that tough enforcement of the laws can make a difference in results, a survey by the HLDI indicated that many drivers, particularly 18-24-year-olds, still are texting in states that have bans. Nearly 45% of those surveyed reported they still texted despite the bans, which HLDI said is just short of the 48% of 18- to 24-year-olds who reported texting in states without bans.
The full report can be found at www.iihs.org/externaldata/srdata/docs/sr4510.pdf