Ban on handheld devices while driving doesn’t work: study

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It is a constant concern for police right across the continent: drivers who get behind the wheel and insist on talking or texting on their cell phones.

But some new research is throwing a wrench into the conventional thinking about distracted driving bans. A study out of the US suggests hands-free laws have done almost nothing to reduce accident rates.

“We went into this thinking we were going to find a reduction in accidents for the exact same reason a lot of states have put these bans in place,” says study co-author Daniel Kaffine, an associate professor with the Department of Economics at the University of Colorado.

“We knew of the literature that suggested talking on your phone is distracting — I’m distracted when I talk on my phone — and so it would not have surprised us to see a five or 10 per cent reduction in accidents. It really took quite awhile for us, looking at the data in a bunch of different ways, using different statistical methods and really trying to think about what was going on, to convince ourselves that really there was no evidence here that accidents had gone own,” he tells News1130.

Kaffine and his colleagues looked at accident rates in California in the six months before and after the state enacted its hands-free law in 2008.

He tells us the study wasn’t designed to determine why accidents didn’t decrease, but there are several possible reasons.

“I think the number one issue is compliance, both in how many people are complying and the trickier question of who is complying. Are the sorts of people who are complying with the ban safe drivers anyway and the people ignoring the ban most inclined to get into accidents in the first place?” he asks.

“That’s closely followed by the issue of how they are complying — are they being distracted by other things? Are they talking more with their passengers, are they fiddling with the radio and playing with their GPS?”

Previous studies have also suggested it is the the phone conversation itself that is distracting, whether it is on a handheld or hands-free device.

The findings are not surprising to Corporal Robert McDonald with BC RCMP Traffic Services.

“We issue violation tickets on a daily basis. The numbers have not dropped … it’s still rampant in BC. People just don’t understand the danger associated with distracted driving,” he tells News1130.

And it’s not just cell phones; McDonald says many other distractions behind the wheel can lead to serious injury or a fatality.

“We’re talking about things like having a dog on your lap. If the dog moves and startles you or moves your arm and you swerve while on the highway, it could mean catastrophe. It could also be putting on make-up, putting in a CD, or dropping something on the floor. All these things are extremely dangerous.”

He says it is frustrating that people are not putting down the phone, as officers respond to fatal crashes on a regular basis.

So what will it take to get drivers to comply with bans on handheld devices? McDonald doesn’t have the answer.

“We are trying everything we can do, media and campaign-wise. We work with what we are given. When it comes to enforcement, we have rules and we will continue to enforce those rules. That’s all I can say about that.”

It often takes a tragedy before people change their habits.

“Is it worth somebody’s life to respond to a text? The text will still be there when you arrive at your destination. Nothing is so important that it’s worth a life,” says McDonald.

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