"Texting while driving" bans increase accidents.

[Anti Federalist]

Time for "in cabin" surveillance.

For outlawing what, by their own admission, isn't a problem.



Do bans on texting while driving actually increase accidents?

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=22657873&nid=148&title=do-bans-on-texting-while-driving-actually-increase-accidents&s_cid=featured-1

SALT LAKE CITY — It's perplexing for both police and lawmakers throughout the U.S.: They want to do something about the danger of texting while driving, a major road hazard, but banning the practice seems to make it even more dangerous.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that 3 of every 4 states that have enacted a ban on texting while driving have seen crashes actually go up rather than down.

It's hard to pin down exactly why this is the case, but experts believe it is a result of people trying to avoid getting caught in states with stiff penalties. Folks trying to keep their phones out of view will often hold the phone much lower, below the wheel perhaps, in order to keep it out of view. That means the driver's eyes are looking down and away from the road.

Whether this trend applies to Utah's roads isn't yet clear. The Utah Department of Public Safety only started tracking incidents involving texting in 2011, and the first report has not yet been issued.

It has tracked deaths related to texting, but there were none in 2010 or 2011.

[NIU Students for Liberty]

On some of the highways in Illinois, there are signs listing the amount of vehicular deaths from the past year that are designed to warn drivers not to text while driving...or else. I wouldn't be surprised if those fatality statistics would decrease if the state were to lift the ban on texting.

[AGRP]

You dont want to get caught texting, so you hide your phone while doing it which is much more dangerous than having it up by the wheel in plain sight. The harmful side effects of prohibition is always highly predictable.

[ZENemy]

in 2 years, voice recognition will be perfect, they just wanna make some money. It will be a while before they ban lip movements while driving, I hope.

[MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2]

Do bans on texting while driving actually increase accidents?

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=22657873&nid=148&title=do-bans-on-texting-while-driving-actually-increase-accidents&s_cid=featured-1

SALT LAKE CITY — It's perplexing for both police and lawmakers throughout the U.S.: They want to do something about the danger of texting while driving, a major road hazard, but banning the practice seems to make it even more dangerous.



You dont want to get caught texting, so you hide your phone while doing it which is much more dangerous than having it up by the wheel in plain sight. The harmful side effects of prohibition is always highly predictable.


Exactly. It's not perplexing at all. Not even a little.

[dillo]

On some of the highways in Illinois, there are signs listing the amount of vehicular deaths from the past year that are designed to warn drivers not to text while driving...or else. I wouldn't be surprised if those fatality statistics would decrease if the state were to lift the ban on texting.

I always found road signs that have letters on them to be Ironic, "dont text and drive" but read this sign and drive seems laughable

[John F Kennedy III]

Time for "in cabin" surveillance.

For outlawing what, by their own admission, isn't a problem.



Do bans on texting while driving actually increase accidents?

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=22657873&nid=148&title=do-bans-on-texting-while-driving-actually-increase-accidents&s_cid=featured-1

SALT LAKE CITY — It's perplexing for both police and lawmakers throughout the U.S.: They want to do something about the danger of texting while driving, a major road hazard, but banning the practice seems to make it even more dangerous.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that 3 of every 4 states that have enacted a ban on texting while driving have seen crashes actually go up rather than down.

It's hard to pin down exactly why this is the case, but experts believe it is a result of people trying to avoid getting caught in states with stiff penalties. Folks trying to keep their phones out of view will often hold the phone much lower, below the wheel perhaps, in order to keep it out of view. That means the driver's eyes are looking down and away from the road.

Whether this trend applies to Utah's roads isn't yet clear. The Utah Department of Public Safety only started tracking incidents involving texting in 2011, and the first report has not yet been issued.

It has tracked deaths related to texting, but there were none in 2010 or 2011.

You wouldn't know it by watching the commercials.

[JorgeStevenson]

I always found road signs that have letters on them to be Ironic, "dont text and drive" but read this sign and drive seems laughable

Yeah, it's up there with the, "Yeah, I was driving down the highway and this guy in the car next to me was texting for like 10 minutes straight!" Like...dude you were looking at something other than the road for 10 minutes straight, yet you claim that HE should go to jail for being distracted and dangerous?

[CaptUSA]

Be careful here, guys. There's a lot of things going into this data. How about the newness of the technology? How about more people on the road that use texting as a way of life? More people who don't text dying off naturally and removing themselves from the roadways.

I don't like these silly laws either, but I think the data do not support the laws causing the accidents. Texting while driving is incredibly dangerous. The frequency of which seems to be increasing - regardless of the laws.

But if the possibility of destroying your car, killing yourself, and harming others doesn't make you stop doing it, I don't think a little fine will stop you. We need education, not legislation.

[Brian4Liberty]

Another outcome of the war on drugs, or in this case neo-prohibition of alcohol. The slippery slope at work.

When they started to criminalize just the presence of alcohol versus erratic driving due to alcohol, they set a precedence for banning any activity that might interfere with driving. It became clear that there were other hindrances to driving that were more dangerous than just the presence of alcohol, thus the government solution was to ban more things.

[acptulsa]

Yeah, it's up there with the, "Yeah, I was driving down the highway and this guy in the car next to me was texting for like 10 minutes straight!" Like...dude you were looking at something other than the road for 10 minutes straight, yet you claim that HE should go to jail for being distracted and dangerous?

I don't know about anyone else, but if someone is distracted from their driving, the last place in the whole world I want to be is right next to them...

[FrancisMarion]

Common sense tells me not to believe this article, regardless of the argument over whether a ban is right or wrong.

[acptulsa]

Common sense tells me not to believe this article, regardless of the argument over whether a ban is right or wrong.

If the numbers are there, the numbers are there.

Prohibition was enacted for the purpose of saving people from the harmful effects of alchohol. Yet if it weren't for Prohibition, would anyone have ever gotten 'jake leg', let alone enough people to make a household word of it? There are always unforeseen effects. Hell, putting jet engines on aircraft taught us a lot about metal fatigue--the hard way. Common sense couldn't apply until we understood metal fatigue better than we did before. Perhaps common sense really dictates you dig deeper.

[FrancisMarion]

If the numbers are there, the numbers are there.

Prohibition was enacted for the purpose of saving people from the harmful effects of alchohol. Yet if it weren't for Prohibition, would anyone have ever gotten 'jake leg', let alone enough people to make a household word of it? There are always unforeseen effects. Hell, putting jet engines on aircraft taught us a lot about metal fatigue--the hard way. Common sense couldn't apply until we understood metal fatigue better than we did before. Perhaps common sense really dictates you dig deeper.

point taken. just seems there are too many variables that are hard to quantify to make such a study accurate in my opinion. This sounds like one of those tax payer funded DOT studies....

[acptulsa]

point taken. just seems there are two many variables that are do hard to quantify to make such a study accurate in my opinion. This sounds like one of those tax payer funded DOT studies....

Then there's that. Just because the numbers are there doesn't mean they aren't 'cooked'.

[jmdrake]

If that's the case then you'd see even higher texting fatalities in states that haven't banned texting. That doesn't seem to be the case. But I'd have to look at the hard data as opposed to just a media report to know.


Be careful here, guys. There's a lot of things going into this data. How about the newness of the technology? How about more people on the road that use texting as a way of life? More people who don't text dying off naturally and removing themselves from the roadways.

I don't like these silly laws either, but I think the data do not support the laws causing the accidents. Texting while driving is incredibly dangerous. The frequency of which seems to be increasing - regardless of the laws.

But if the possibility of destroying your car, killing yourself, and harming others doesn't make you stop doing it, I don't think a little fine will stop you. We need education, not legislation.

[CaptUSA]

If that's the case then you'd see even higher texting fatalities in states that haven't banned texting. That doesn't seem to be the case. But I'd have to look at the hard data as opposed to just a media report to know.Yeah, I'm just urging caution. Texting while driving is an extremely dangerous activity. It's another distraction from a task that requires focus. With all of the variables, it would be hard to say for certain if the ban has had any effect on the accidents, but I think we can safely surmise that the bans aren't helping.

[ShaneEnochs]

I know you guys are going to jump on me for this, but whatever. I can attest to this. I used to hold my phone up above my steering wheel so I could both watch the road and text at the same time. Now I have to hold it down beside me and kind of guess which letters I'm hitting. Then whenever I go to check, I have to take my eyes completely off the road. Just a couple weeks ago I nearly ended up in a ditch, which has caused me to not do it nearly as much.

[acptulsa]

...I nearly ended up in a ditch, which has caused me to not do it nearly as much.

Why would we jump on someone capable of learning better? :p

But be careful who you admit this to. Some will jump on it as an excuse for dumb laws. You'd never have cut down if trying to avoid getting caught at it hadn't nearly killed you, right? And the law is why that happened, right? So the law is obviously a good thing. Either it brings the problem to a head sooner, or the scofflaws kill themselves and solve the problem that way... :rolleyes:

[fisharmor]

Yeah, I'm just urging caution. Texting while driving is an extremely dangerous activity.

You know what's even more potentially dangerous?
Eating and drinking.
What's more distracting, taking your eyes off the road for a length of time identical to the time it would take to change the radio station, check on your kids in the back seat, read a bumper sticker, check an address on your directions, or any one of the other literally thousands of things we do while driving,
or,
spilling scalding hot coffee in your lap?

Which one is there an entire industry built up around, which has been with us for 60 years?

If someone wants to text while driving, I say, more power to ya.
Don't crash, and don't cause anyone else to crash, and it's not a problem.

I'm going to go ahead and continue to sit in 10mph traffic and drink my scalding hot coffee and play Bubble Shooter every morning.

[Anti Federalist]

Why would we jump on someone capable of learning better? :p

But be careful who you admit this to. Some will jump on it as an excuse for dumb laws. You'd never have cut down if trying to avoid getting caught at it hadn't nearly killed you, right? And the law is why that happened, right? So the law is obviously a good thing. Either it brings the problem to a head sooner, or the scofflaws kill themselves and solve the problem that way... :rolleyes:

You awful, awful, man.

What about that poor ditch?

Won't somebody please think of the ditches???

[MoneyWhereMyMouthIs2]

I know you guys are going to jump on me for this, but whatever. I can attest to this. I used to hold my phone up above my steering wheel so I could both watch the road and text at the same time. Now I have to hold it down beside me and kind of guess which letters I'm hitting. Then whenever I go to check, I have to take my eyes completely off the road. Just a couple weeks ago I nearly ended up in a ditch, which has caused me to not do it nearly as much.


You just gave a first hand account of why this situation is NOT perplexing, while exposing yourself to ridicule for doing so. (and you knew exactly what was going on.) I'll jump a +rep on you for it.

[QuickZ06]

You just gave a first hand account of why this situation is NOT perplexing, while exposing yourself to ridicule for doing so. (and you knew exactly what was going on.) I'll jump a +rep on you for it.

I'll second that.

[Matt Collins]

You dont want to get caught texting, so you hide your phone while doing it which is much more dangerous than having it up by the wheel in plain sight. The harmful side effects of prohibition is always highly predictable.Exactly, when I text while driving, I hold the phone up above the dash with 1 hand so that my eyes never leave the road.

[AFPVet]

Banning anything doesn't work. Safety campaigns help, but the reality is that some people are idiots and will only learn as a result of their idiocy.

[Zippyjuan]

Time for "in cabin" surveillance.

For outlawing what, by their own admission, isn't a problem.



Do bans on texting while driving actually increase accidents?

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=22657873&nid=148&title=do-bans-on-texting-while-driving-actually-increase-accidents&s_cid=featured-1

SALT LAKE CITY — It's perplexing for both police and lawmakers throughout the U.S.: They want to do something about the danger of texting while driving, a major road hazard, but banning the practice seems to make it even more dangerous.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says that 3 of every 4 states that have enacted a ban on texting while driving have seen crashes actually go up rather than down.

It's hard to pin down exactly why this is the case, but experts believe it is a result of people trying to avoid getting caught in states with stiff penalties. Folks trying to keep their phones out of view will often hold the phone much lower, below the wheel perhaps, in order to keep it out of view. That means the driver's eyes are looking down and away from the road.

Whether this trend applies to Utah's roads isn't yet clear. The Utah Department of Public Safety only started tracking incidents involving texting in 2011, and the first report has not yet been issued.

It has tracked deaths related to texting, but there were none in 2010 or 2011.

Difficult to say that the ban is what caused the increase in accidents (as the headline claims).


The Utah Department of Public Safety only started tracking incidents involving texting in 2011, and the first report has not yet been issued.

SO they weren't even counted until some time in 2011. That would explain the next number:

but there were none in 2010 or 2011.

How did numbers fare in states which did not ban texting? Is the law actually enforced in the states they looked at? (California for example banned cell phone use in cars without a hands- free unit but did not enforce it for several years after the law was passed and supposed to take effect).

[CaptUSA]

You know what's even more potentially dangerous?
Eating and drinking.
What's more distracting, taking your eyes off the road for a length of time identical to the time it would take to change the radio station, check on your kids in the back seat, read a bumper sticker, check an address on your directions, or any one of the other literally thousands of things we do while driving,
or,
spilling scalding hot coffee in your lap?

Which one is there an entire industry built up around, which has been with us for 60 years?

If someone wants to text while driving, I say, more power to ya.
Don't crash, and don't cause anyone else to crash, and it's not a problem.

I'm going to go ahead and continue to sit in 10mph traffic and drink my scalding hot coffee and play Bubble Shooter every morning.This is what I'm saying! There are all kinds of distractions that could cause a driver to screw up. Are we really going to make a law for each one?

But let's not fool ourselves into thinking that texting while driving is safe. It's not. When I see someone come into my lane, I get pissed. When I see it's because of a distraction (eating, texting, doing makeup, talking on the phone, whatever..) that they could have avoided and introduced themselves, I get even more pissed. That does not mean I condone laws against any of those behaviors. It does mean I think you shouldn't do them if they cause you, personally, to lose control of your vehicle.