Texting while driving, and cell phone use in general by drivers, (along with being fat, though that’s a post for the other day) is the new smoking. It’s a practice under attack all over our society. Oprah has used her celebrity to launch a high-profile campaign called No Phone Zone calling the use of cell phones in cars “America’s deadly obsession.” Across the nation, many states and localities are considering various levels of bans on the use of cell phones in cars. The city of Grand Forks, in my home state of North Dakota, recently passed just such a ban and I expect these sorts of policies to be pushed and passed around the country.
Because it’s conventional wisdom that cell phone use in cars is dangerous, right? And what excuse, other than convenience, is there for using your cell phone while driving?
But as public hysteria about cell phone use in cars drives ridiculous hyperbolic statements and knee-jerk policy making, the facts dispute the notion that the practice is any sort of a national epidemic.
In fact, according to recent reports, traffic fatalities in America are at their lowest point in 60 years. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, it’s not just traffic fatalities that are down in America. Crash and injury numbers are down across the board:
The number of people injured in crashes fell 5.5 percent from 2008 to 2.2 million — down 129,000 over 2008. The number of pedestrians injured fell by 14 percent to 59,000, while deaths among pedestrians fell 7.3 percent to 4,092.
Now, keep in mind that over the last 60 years we’ve not only seen the rise in use of cell phones in cars (not to mention a myriad of other devices like iPods and CD players, etc.) but also a massive increase in the number of cars on the road and the number of miles they drive.
So if cell phone use while driving is such a problem, where’s the data supporting it? Where’s the huge spike in traffic/pedestrian injuries and fatalities that correlates to the rise in cell phone use? It’s not there.
Meaning this hysteria about cell phone use while driving seems less about actual traffic safety than just the same cadre of nanny statists who want to outlaw that which annoys them.
