It's against the law!
A new study by the Highway Loss Data Institute [HDLI] suggests that the laws in California, Louisiana, Minnesota and Washington have done nothing to curb the amount of accidents caused by texting. In fact, it seemed that the laws banning texting have been associated with a slight increase in the frequency of car insurance claims. In the three out of the four states included in the study, crash reports had actually gone up.
These four states are not the only states to have banned motorists from using their phone to send or receive text messages; the District of Columbia was the first to do so in 2004, and today 30 states have imposed similar bans. Since California, Louisiana, Minnesota and Washington only recently adopted these laws, in 2008 and 2009, the HLDI compared their claims to each other, then to patterns of claims in nearby states without legislation banning motorists from texting.
And what did they find, you may ask? Similar results to their study a few years ago about the ban on cellphones while driving—it turns out that the cellphone ban did nothing to improve safety statistics either. Although they were shocked after finding the cellphone study results, “this time, when we reached similar conclusions about texting bans, we were not that surprised,” commented HLDI spokesperson Anne Fleming.
But how could a ban create more accidents? Surely people aren’t still doing it? Well yes they are. It seems that instead of refraining from sending text messages while driving, drivers are now just holding their phones down low, hoping that the police won’t see them. And this takes their eyes off the road even more than before the ban, when they could hold the phone much closer to their line of sight. Although this is speculation on the part of the HLDI, researchers at the University of Glasgow used a driving simulator for a study that showed a sharp increase in crash likelihood when participants texted from a phone on their lap or hidden from the view of other “drivers.”
But even in the face of all this evidence, HLDI and other highway safety advocates are reluctant to pull the legislation. Spokesperson Fleming said that “If drivers believe that they will get a hefty ticket, it may make a difference” and that the HLDI plans to revisit the laws to see how they can be better enforced.
Although even the HLDI admits that laws may not be enough, and that they are hopeful that developing technologies to help drivers avoid crashes will reduce hazardous driving…in the not-too-distant future.
And, by the way, those of you thinking that you can wag your finger at a passing policeman driving while on his mobile are wrong. Apparently, the laws do not apply to law enforcement or emergency support teams, like firefighters. So, it’s still “do as I say, not as I do!”
Does your car insurance go lower once you turn twenty-five? If that’s so, exactly how much…?
It can go down when you turn 25, but there’s so many factors in determining how much that we have to look at each individual separately. Thanks for the comment!
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