Flutterby™! : Cell Phone driving laws not helping

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Cell Phone driving laws not helping

2010-01-29 18:52:16.930367+00 by Dan Lyke 2 comments

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety/Highway Loss Data Institute: Laws banning cellphone use while driving fail to reduce crashes, new insurance data indicate. Looks like they're starting a push to abolish all cell phone use while driving, this may escalate into a China style ban on talking while driving:

"The laws aren't reducing crashes, even though we know that such laws have reduced hand-held phone use, and several studies have established that phoning while driving increases crash risk," says Adrian Lund, president of both the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and HLDI.

[ related topics: Wireless Current Events Government ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2010-01-30 02:49:56.277773+00 by: markd

PA has this law, but it's not enforced. I still see dozens and dozens of folks happily chatting away while weaving down the road.

#Comment Re: made: 2010-02-01 17:53:22.256665+00 by: andylyke [edit history]

I have to question their survey methodology. They compared New York (Nov. 2001), the District of Columbia (July 2004), Connecticut (Oct. 2005), and California (July 2008)to "nearby jurisdictions without such bans".

Does this mean that CA was compared to Nevada, DC to Jessup, MD, New York to Vermont, Connecticut to RI? I think it would be more valid to compare each jurisdiction to itself before the ban was initiated. On the other hand, sculpt the data set to what results you want. I don't think I'm any smarter after reading the article than I was before.

If you can't lie with figures, you shouldn't lie with anyone.

{I just went back and skimmed to the end of the article, but I'll let my snark stand anyway}