Report suggesting texting ban laws don't work anger DOT

[Chuck]

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) report suggests the laws may even increase texting deaths slightly.

MSNBC - Sept 28, 2010

The laws are not bad, but just need a multi-faceted approach. --Ed.

Are texting bans working?

Road deaths due to texting behind the wheel, a topic widely reported on in recent months, has taken a new twist.

In a report released Tuesday, the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, found that texting bans are not reducing crashes.

The claims that the anti-texting laws do not reduce crashes touched a nerve with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, who responded harshly to the report, calling it misleading and flawed.... [Read More]

[JusBringIt]

Laws against speeding don't exactly stop speeding. It just makes it wrong to do it by law. When representatives of the law break it like it's nothing, how are citizens supposed to uphold it?

[ILAveo]

NSC quote from the article: “Texting laws that are not effectively enforced could not be expected to have much safety benefit,” the release said. The statement went on to say that the study released today was performed in states at a time when consistent, uniform and effective enforcement was not in place. The recent DOT enforcement projects in Syracuse and Hartford, by contrast, “had measurable impact in reducing texting behind the wheel.”

The conclusion I drew from the article is that texting bans that aren't enforced don't work.

[JusBringIt]

I also think that maybe the texters just learn the hard way...before a patrolman could help.

[WriConsult]

Correlation is not causation. Maybe four states isn't a big enough sample size to show whether or not the laws are effective.

[chilimac02]

Sure laws against texting will work. After all, nobody drinks and drives, speeds, or runs red-lights.

[rdprice64]

Our ban went into effect July 1 and from my observations it looks like the texting has actually increased. Part of the problem is that it is still okay to adjust your GPS or other device as long as it is not a text message or email, so the enforcement is difficult. I know a girl has been pulled over twice since the ban went into effect, but both times she was using Google Maps, so the officer wasted his time pulling her over. That type of "false" stop is going to make enforce less likely.

[diamondlarry]

One of the things in the article that hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet was the problem of serial texters holding the phone closer to the level of the seat to avoid detection which actually caused them to spend even more time with their eyes off the road and making even their peripheral vision useless. Here's an experiment that could be tried: go to a large and deserted parking lot and try operating a phone while holding it just above the wheel then try it while holding the phone on the front seat. Now granted, it's still not a good idea but you can see where one way is even worse than the other.

[KrazyDawg]

The fine is too small and if highway patrol has problems stopping speeders than text messaging is even harder to enforce. Fine should be increased from $20 to $200 and reported to insurance company so rates can also increase. If you make the fine ridiculously high than it won't be worth the risk. Because the fine is small most people will risk it. Maybe there should be an incentive program for passengers in the vehicle to photograph/record drivers using their cell phone while driving. Peer pressure works.

Someone using their cell phone as a GPS and typing information in while driving can still be pulled over for reckless driving.