Ban on Texting while Driving Leads to More Crashes, Not Less

[The Straight Story]

Ban on Texting while Driving Leads to More Crashes, Not Less

Anti-texting laws don’t work, says the Highway Loss Data Institute, a research group funded by the automobile insurance industry. After reviewing accident reports from four states that outlawed sending text messages while driving, the institute found the bans did nothing to reduce the number of automobile accidents. In fact, insurance claims related to vehicle crashes went up slightly in California, Louisiana and Minnesota. In Washington, the rate of crashes was roughly the same before and after the state’s texting ban.

“Texting bans haven’t reduced crashes at all….It’s an indication that texting bans might even increase the risk of texting for drivers who continue to do so despite the laws,” said Adrian Lund, president of both the institute and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Observers speculate that those who defy the ban, particularly young drivers, try to hide the fact that they are texting, causing an even greater distraction to their driving.

http://www.allgov.com/Unusual_News/ViewNews/Ban_on_Texting_while_Driving_Leads_to_More_Crashes_Not_Less_101004

[county worker]

1. You can't say the ban leads to more crashes.

Claims went up but there is no correlation that the ban on texting caused it. It is just that the two items coincide. There could be any number of reasons the rate went up.

[NashVegas]

7. Agreed

More people are using smart phones than ever ...

[DJ13]

2. might even increase the risk... who continue to do so despite the laws

By that thinking we should remove drunk driving laws too.

[elleng]

8. Right.

dopey

[TexasObserver]

3. Ri-i-ight. Because looking away at the text makes them drive better.

That's an absurd and unprovable assertion.

What next? Being drunk makes them drive safer?

[Regret My New Name]

19. Drunk texting makes my drives more enjoyable ;)

(not really)

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. Just make sure you do not drive by the shiny

(Emergency Lights do attract drunks... I am serious on that)

[BoneDaddy]

29. Now that was funny

the only thing missing was having reverse cowgirl sex, while drunk, while texting.

[Regret My New Name]

32. My drunk texting has pretty much ruined any chances of drunk cowgirl sex....

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. So make it legal?

Bah. Check their cell phone text records and compare the time stamps to the time of the crash and fine the crap out of them.

Maybe have insurance companies deny payment if texting was going on at the time of the crash?

Lives are being lost over stupidity.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. Who cares. Texting while driving is insane. And I will not believe

that texting while driving is not more dangerous than not texting.

[slackmaster]

6. My non-scientific observation is that the number of distracted drivers is increasing rapidly

I find myself using my horn multiple times per day.

[Imajika]

9. Yup, I agree

I see no reduction at all in distracted driving despite these laws.

I have a hard time believing that the laws are bad, and they are certainly well intended - I just wonder if people are now in this mode where they are going to occupy themselves with something else (while driving) no matter what laws are passed.

Maybe instead of going after specific things, we just need to target "distracted driving" in general somehow?

[spanone]

13. in the last year i have become acutely aware that cars are drifting into my lane

[slackmaster]

20. The lessons of defensive driving come hard for some. Kudos to you for paying attention.

Sounds like you're on top of it!

[we can do it]

10. They Should Smash The Assholes Cars the First Time They Get Caught

and charge them with assault or homicide if anyone is injured or killed. I saw 2 of the freeaking idiots in a 3 minute span here in the idiot capitol of the world - Ohio. If is see on more dilapidated house with a Kasich sign I swear I am knocking on the door and ask them what the fuck is wrong with them.

[Xithras]

11. Texting while driving isn't a huge cause of auto crashes.

They generate headlines, but according to the NTSB, only about 1 in 20 accidents are attributable to cell phone use. Of those, "use" includes everything from texting, to talking with the headset to your ear, to checking your stock while driving, to swerving off the road after dropping your bluetooth into the cup of boiling coffee between your legs. Even if ALL texting were to stop today, the total decrease in accidents would be only slight.

According to the CHP, the number of accidents attributable to distracted driving has declined by 6% since the cellphone ban went into effect in 2008. If the overall accident rate has climbed, I'd look at other sources.

[stray cat]

14. Suicide due to bullying doesn't kill huge numbers either - but that doesn't make it ok

[Xithras]

16. My point was that the article in the OP conflates two unrelated statistics.

It cites an increase in the overall crash rate as evidence that texting bans aren't working. In the real world, according to the CHP, California accident rates related to texting HAVE declined. The increase in the OVERALL crash rate must be attributable to other factors...including normal year to year variability, or unusual weather events.

Northern California had an unseasonably wet fall and winter last year. Could THAT have had an impact on the states overall accident rate? The numbers are also only comparing over a two year period, which is statistically irrelevant. How do the overall accident rates compare over longer periods? Are the increases outside the range of normal variability?

The article sounds like someone trying to invent a story from nothing.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. +100

We kept the damn stats to prove to the Legislature in Mexicalli (ahead of Cali, you can blame me for that) that a ban on cell phone while driving was necessary.

We saw variations from month to month, et al.

Once the ban came in place the drop was not spectacular, but significant enough. As I posted bellow, I certainly am happy one less person crashes and kills themselves (on average) a year, and we have 20 or so less critical crashes. That is of course the average, And when you go to the aggregate of the nation it is about half a billion dollars. In the US the aggregate, just guessing, must be close to three billion, just due to the difference in population and size.

Some people are on a crusade though to prove that all laws are not necessary and they should be allowed to do whatever they want to do. We usually associate this with the right, but libertarian leanings are strong in the left too. One reason why the Libertarian Party remains in third place even though it has had an explosive growth since it's foundation.

[stray cat]

12. Like driving while drunk?

[pjahn]

15. The problem is

A ban on stupid behaviour generally only works on the non-stupid. If you text and drive by definition you ain't too bright.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. The stupid burns

I mean, when we like KEPT stats for driving while on cell phone, we saw a CLEAR link to increase in accident rates. They were statistically significant, but not enough to reduce them by a bunch when it was finally banned.

It was enough were we would respond to five less fatalities\ year and oh about 20 less major car crashes. We did not keep stats for the minor fender benders which are the MOST common accidents and rarely reported.

You go tell the folks who otherwise would be dead or disabled that it is a bad thing to pass these laws. I do triple dare you. Oh and on the economic effect, one day I had nothing better to do and projected our numbers to the whole country of Mexico (some places it is worst than others) and the money saved is about half a billion dollars.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. Same with laws against chugging jack daniels while behind the wheel

Having to stash the bottle under the seat when a cop passes by clearly increases the hazard. :eyes:

[WinkyDink]

21. What??

[slackmaster]

24. Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc Fallacy

:hi:

[USArmyParatrooper]

25. I can totally see that

Instead of hold up their phone while they text so they can at least see with their peripheral vision, they try to hide it by looking down and texting on their lap.

So what's the answer? Neither should be done but the second option is worse. Perhaps make it a $2000 fine so they won't even risk texting on their lap.

[AsahinaKimi]

26. I nearly got run over yesterday.

I had come to a cross walk. The light had already changed from Yellow to Red, within five minutes, this guy drove through the red light, and he was talking on his cellphone with his hand up to his ear. He was lucky he wasn't side swiped by cars coming in the other direction, and I was lucky to have seen him at the last second, and not be run over by this jerk on the phone. His car was going too fast for me to grab his license plate, not that it would have done me much good. Had I called in and reported him, I doubt anyone would have done a thing about it.

[BoneDaddy]

28. I hear ya

yet some people on DU will make you believe that any law is an injustice and some conspiracy trying to "take away my freedoms". They are as stupid as the far right.

[BoneDaddy]

27. When defending the stupid is stupid

wtf is it with every far left reaction to common sense. Defending texting while driving is about one of the most idiotic things I have seen on DU and the idiots who defend it are even more pathetic.

It increases collisions because people now have to "hide it". Wtf. Instead of coddling "the younger generation's" reckless driving, we now have to be sensitive to it? We are going down the tubes.

This is up there with the women putting on make-up, the guy reading the sports page or any other idiotic action that makes life, for the rest of us, more unsafe in the WEAPONS we are driving.

The defense of this has confirmed what I have finally and ultimately realized.

[IDemo]

30. Correlation does not imply causation

Boats float on water. Ice floats on water. Therefore, ice-cubes are boats.

[customerserviceguy]

31. Maybe the states that banned texting while driving

are the ones that were the first to recognize the problem, because they have an inordinate number of stupid people who insist on texting while driving, who continued to do so.

We need to ban texting at the source, period. It's like Vietnam, we're just waiting for the body count to get high enough before we do what we should have done years earlier.