A new study finds that laws banning hand-held cell phone use while driving have not reduced the number of auto accidents in the District or elsewhere.
The Highway Loss Data Institute examined insurance claim records in D.C., New York, Connecticut and California, as well as nearby areas lacking cell phone bans.
The findings: Cell phone bans don’t lower crash rates.
“We looked at states that have had hand-held cell phone bans in place for the longest times,” said Russ Rader, a representative of the Highway Loss Data Institute, which is a research wing of the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. “We found that there was no change in the crash trends before compared to after the laws banning cell phone use were put in place.”
The study also compared crash rates in the District with those in Maryland and Virginia, which don’t have laws restricting driver cell phone use, and found that crash rates were similar.
For example, when comparing D.C.’s collision claim frequency with similar claims in Baltimore, where no such laws exist, the study found that the phone ban had no effect.
“We were surprised by the results,” Rader said. “Given the big increase in cell phone use over the last few years, we were surprised to find no impact on crashes.”
The District of Columbia enacted laws banning driving while talking on a cell phone in July 2004, though drivers are still allowed to use hands-free cell phone devices.
According to the AAA Mid-Atlantic Auto Club, D.C. police officers have since doled out almost 13,000 tickets and 7,519 warnings to drivers caught using hand-held cell phones.
Chicago and other major metropolitan areas followed D.C.’s example, racking up thousands of dollars in ticket revenue despite a dearth of evidence showing that cell phone bans reduce the number of auto accidents.
In addition to the new findings, a recent AAA study found that hands-free cell phone use was no safer than talking on a hand-held.
“No empirical studies … show hands-free phones offer safety advantages over hand-held phones,” AAA spokesman John Townsend said in response to the new findings.
The problem, some experts say, lies in human nature — not our gadgets.
“The real danger is distracted driving,” said a AAA Mid-Atlantic statement issued in response to the new study — and that danger is not confined to cell phones users.
