Car collisions not lowered by text messaging while travelling regulations

In an effort to cut down on car crashes, several states have banned texting when driving. Even so, vehicle incidents did not go down in states that have banned texting behind the wheel. Traffic accidents, strangely enough, were up in some states with the restriction. The Transportation Department called the study misleading as it worked to follow via with a national campaign to stamp out texting behind the wheel. Figuring out correct enforcement is the key, say insurance industry experts who have faith within the laws. Because motorists often turn to even more dangerous text messaging methods to keep away from been seen, some think the bans are making the situation worse. Article source – Texting when driving bans fail to put a dent in auto accidents by Personal Money Store.

Texting on the road an intractable issue

A rise of more than 16,000 traffic fatalities from 2001 to 2007 was attributed to texting when travelling by a study made public by the American Journal of Public Health. Nevertheless, research by the Highway Loss Data Institute, as reported by ABC News, discovered that traffic accidents remained constant in spite of the new laws. The HLDI documented crash frequency and insurance claims quickly prior to and directly following the passage of anti-texting regulations in Washington, Minnesota, Louisiana and California. In three states, crashes really showed a slight increase.

New laws make habitual texters take much more risks

The study proves that it is clear text messaging drivers aren’t fascinated by laws alone. The Christian Science Monitor reports that in all four states within the study, accidents increased among motorists 25 and under– the age group most associated with text messaging when driving. The likely explanation: to avoid getting a ticket, drivers are holding their devices out of sight, which makes it harder to pay attention when travelling. Ray Lahood, secretary of the Transportation Department, criticized the study. He released a statement saying research showed that distracted driving laws could reduce crashes. But Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said laws focusing on a single aspect of distracted driving ignore the entire scope of distractions and rely on a ban to solve the whole problem.

A engineering solution when regulations fall short

Law or no law, Americans are going to text when driving. Jared Newman at PC World thinks technology is a better solution than laws that are ignored. Existing solutions consist of text message dictation apps for instance Google Voice for Android and Dragon Dictation for the iPhone. He wrote that cutting edge auto technology for instance MyFord Touch allow drivers to communicate while they pay attention to their travelling. Helping make the public much more aware of these engineering solutions could do much more to cut back collisions, instead of passing regulations that are largely ignored.

Information from

ABC News

abcnews.go.com

Christian Science Monitor

csmonitor.com

PC World

pcworld.com