Does Passing a Law Increase Safety? Not This Time.
Several states passed laws prohibiting the use of hand-held cell phones. Did these laws work? (Reduce accidents?)
No, according to a study by the Highway Loss Data Institute reported on by Top News.
According to the study/story, the rates where a ban has been passed mirror those of neighboring states with no law. Thus no decrease was seen in having a criminal penalty for handheld cell phone use.
Almost everyone agrees that drivers can be distracted by cell phone use, so why didn’t bans work? Here are some of my ideas…
1. Handheld cell phones are only one of many distractions.
2. Enforcement – people still use their phones.
3. People use phones in hands fee mode and are still distracted.
Have other ideas why this ban doesn’t improve accident statistics? Leave them here as a comment.
One more note …
I was over in the UK recently. They have all sorts of laws to make a driver pay attention. One of the big stories was about a man who got a ticket for blowing his nose while he was stopped in traffic. The officer thought he was not “in full control of his vehicle.”
Next, making sneezing illegal while driving…
