By Lyndsay Winkley
A recent study questions whether the new law has made streets safer in California..
There is no shortage of grim statistics depicting the deadly consequences of texting or talking on a cellphone behind the wheel.As research has mounted, dozens of states have implemented bans on cellphone use in an effort to make the roadways safer.But a recent research study out of a Colorado university questions whether bans are having their desired effect — at least in California.After taking a look at the number of collisions six months before California’s cellphone ban was implemented in July 2008 and the six months after it went into effect, researchers determined there was no evidence crashes were reduced.“If it’s really that dangerous, and if even just a fraction of people stopped using their phones, we would expect to find some decrease in accidents,” said Daniel Kaffine, an associate professor of economics at University of Colorado, Boulder, and an author of the study. “But we didn’t find any statistical evidence of a reduction.”State officials rejected the study, citing research they commissioned that showed a significant decrease in fatal crashes after the ban went into effect. Local law enforcement officers also backed the laws, saying they’ve resulted in safer driving.It turns out Kaffine and his fellow researchers aren’t the first ones to question how effective cellphone bans might be — or if cellphone use even correlates with more crashes.In a 2013 study published in the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, a group of researchers analyzed nationwide, single-vehicle, single-occupant crash numbers during the time a number of states enacted text messaging bans.They found that, initially, there was a notable drop in collisions, but it was short lived. After only three months, crashes had crept back up to levels seen before the texting ban was in place.Another study, published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, took advantage of a natural experiment to determine if cellphone use correlated with more collisions. In 2005, a number of cellphone plans offered free calls after 9 p.m., resulting in more calls placed by drivers around that time.They found that while more drivers were chatting behind the wheel, the crash rate in the same area the calls were made didn’t go up.Kaffine said while his study wasn’t designed to identify why cellphone bans didn’t result in more crashes in California during that period, the study did suggest some possible reasons:
• Drivers may have switched to hands-free devices, even though experiments suggest that method is equally distracting.
• People might simply be ignoring the ban.
• Motorists who choose to use their cellphones and drive might be the type of drivers who engage in other distracting behaviors. These drivers might be replacing one distracting behavior, cellphone use, with any number of other distracting tasks.
• Using a phone while driving might not be as dangerous as previously thought.
“Determining which, if any, of these reasons may have led to the ineffectiveness of California’s ban could lead to better cellphone policies in the future,” Kaffine said.In California, talking on your cellphone without a hands-free device is a no-no, as is writing, sending or reading text-based communications, including emails.Other phone-related activities are OK, though, such as using mapping functions.Using your cellphone without a hands-free device or texting while driving will land you a $160 fine for the first offense and a $280 fine for offenses after that.
While there is a little ambiguity in some of the state’s cellphone laws, California’s Office of Traffic Safety feels current bans make drivers safer, and a study the office commissioned confirmed those sentiments.The state analyzed fatal crashes that were likely attributed to cellphone use for two years before the ban and two years after the ban. The study determined, overall, deadly crashes fell by 22 percent and hand-held cellphone related deaths by 47 percent.
“That points pretty conclusively toward the effectiveness, at least in the first two years, of the laws,” said Chris Cochran, assistant director of the state’s traffic safety department.Law enforcement officers also feel the bans have made the roadways safer.“I absolutely credit (the ban) with assisting us in the decreased number of collisions and hit and runs and increasing traffic safety,” San Diego police Officer Mark McCullough said.McCullough said over the years, he’s seen the number of drivers on their phones drop and, of the people he does catch, more are educated about the rules.“I see a lot less near-misses than I did two or three years ago,” he said. “When I pull behind someone, their cellphone might go flying, but they know they were in the wrong.”
Cellphone violation citations doled out by San Diego police have decreased over the years. In 2011, 19,466 tickets were issued. Citations fell to 15,080 in 2012 and to 10,971 tickets in 2013. If 2014 holds steady, however, officers will likely issue more tickets than last year.McCullough said the increase probably results from a grant that funds more enforcement, rather than more offenders taking to the streets.California Highway Patrol Officer Jim Bettencourt said it’s hard to definitively say whether cellphone bans make drivers safer, but it’s a step in the right direction.“Hopefully it’s helped in that (the bans) remind people they should be focused while driving,” he said. “If we can get people to stop using their phones, we will have fewer accidents.”Cochran has said the best weapon against cellphone use while driving will likely be time. It took decades for seat belt compliance to climb from a 15 percent compliance rate to a 97 percent compliance rate in the state.Bettencourt said people’s perception of chatting and cruising needs to change before real reform will happen.“Can you imagine the look you would give someone if you pulled up next to next to them and they were swigging a beer?” he said. “Until cellphone use becomes that taboo, people will continue to use them.”
