Traffic Safety Study Suggests Teen Driver Cellphone Use Bans Ineffective
Bans in 17 states and the District of Columbia on teenagers’ use of cellphones while driving may not have any significant effect on their habits, a new traffic safety study suggests. The study looked at North Carolina teen drivers’ cellphone usage habits before and after that state’s teen driver cellphone use ban took effect late in 2006. It found 11 percent of teen drivers used cellphones while on the road before the ban, and 12 percent were doing so five months after the ban took effect.
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Nationally, bans on cellphone use by teen drivers are law in California (as of July 1), Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota (as of Aug. 1), New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas, plus D.C. In those places, teen driver cellphone violations are a primary motor vehicle offense, meaning drivers can be stopped even if they aren’t doing anything else wrong. Teen driver cellphone use bans are also law in Colorado, Maryland, Nebraska, Oregon, Virginia and West Virginia, but the violation is a secondary offense, so the teen driver has to have committed some other traffic violation before getting a cellphone use ticket. The laws bar teen drivers’ use of any type of cellphone, including hands-free models.
The study done by the University of North Carolina for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety was based on observations of teen drivers leaving high schools in five North Carolina counties, followed up by interviews with teen drivers and parents about cellphone use. The study concluded cellphone usage bans just for teen drivers are hard to enforce. It said drivers using handheld phones can readily be spotted, but it’s hard for police officers to see hands- free phones in use or correctly guess a young driver’s age.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute have long stressed that the key to effective traffic laws on driver habits such as seat belt or cellphone usage is vigorous enforcement. But this study indicated the odds of a North Carolina teen driver getting ticketed for cellphone use are very slim. State traffic safety records showed that during the first 10 months of 2007, police issued 51 tickets to drivers under age 18 for talking on cellphones while driving, resulting in 23 convictions. The records for that time period also showed no teen drivers were ticketed for unlawful cellphone use in 65 of the state’s 100 counties.
The study noted North Carolina’s law exempts teen drivers’ cellphone calls to parents, spouses and doctors, or to report emergencies. Other states at least exempt calls to report emergencies. The study also suggested North Carolina’s $25 fine for teen-driver cellphone violations isn’t a significant deterrent. The study said other states with teen-driver cellphone usage bans generally impose small fines. California’s law that takes effect in July calls for a $20 fine, it said.
Traffic safety experts generally agree distracted drivers are a major cause of traffic accidents, and that teens are particularly prone to distraction. A Ford Motor Co. study cited last year during California’s legislative debate on a teen driver cellphone ban indicated the drivers were four times more likely to be distracted by a cellphone conversation than adult drivers. The National Transportation Safety Board in 2003 recommended that all states should bar teen drivers from using any kind of cellphones.
The study’s interviews with parents and teens before and after the law’s passage showed 64 percent of teens were aware that the law was passed, while only 39 percent of parents knew of it. The Insurance Institute said these results indicate that parents need to be aware of the laws and set their own rules for their teen drivers including no use of cellphones behind the wheel.