Nearly every state in America bans drivers from texting behind the wheel in effort to reduce distracted driving accident injuries.
Until recently, research into the overall effectiveness of these bans has been limited and benefits were purely speculative. Now, new research and a study published in the American Journal of Public Health provides quantitative evidence that texting while driving bans are effective in reducing the number of crash-related hospitalizations of both drivers and passengers.
Researchers at Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health examined car crash data before and after the enactment of texting bans. Nineteen states were included in the study, which looked at crash-related hospitalizations between the years 2003 and 2010.
Overall, the findings showed a seven percent reduction in crash-related hospitalizations in states that have enacted bans on texting while driving. The study team reached this conclusion even after accounting for the effects of other safety laws, such as those that deal with speeding, drunk driving, handheld cellphones and teen driving restrictions.
The study found that adults over the age of 22 were the most likely to benefit from these bans, with an average nine percent reduction in car-crash hospitalizations. An earlier study conducted by the same research team concluded that distracted driving fatalities among all age groups also were reduced following the introduction of strict state texting bans.
UNIVERSAL TEXTING BANS
According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, adults between the ages of 25 and 40 are the worst offenders when it comes to this dangerous behavior. Moreover, several studies suggest that older drivers who text behind the wheel are at a greater risk of crashing their vehicle than their younger counterparts. For this reason, the authors of this most recent study stress the importance of universal texting bans for all drivers.
The results of the study also showed that states with the toughest laws against texting while driving gained the most benefit. Currently, 45 states, including New Jersey, prohibit all drivers from texting while driving with primary enforcement – meaning an officer does not need any other reason to pull the driver over and issue a ticket.
Still, despite the laws and all of the research regarding the dangers of distracted driving, many Americans continue to engage in this fatal activity. One survey found that although 89% of American adults believe that sending emails or text messages while driving is dangerous, 57% admit that they do it anyway. The impact of these numbers is sobering. Each day in the United States, nine people are killed and more than 1,153 people are injured in distracted driving car accidents.
