Personal Injury Blog

Distracted Driving Laws Highly Effective in Reducing Cell Phone Use, Preventing Accidents

July 31st, 2011
Enforcement of Distracted driving laws

Distracted Driving Laws have proven to be highly effective at preventing distracted driving caused accidents.

Distracted Driving Laws are the base for highly effective campaigns against drunk driving and seatbelt enforcement, lead to substantial reductions in cell phone use while driving, and reduce the risk of accidents.  Federal researchers have found that when enforcement campaigns combine awareness with fines and penalties, they’re much more effective in reducing distracted driving behaviors than public awareness campaigns alone.

The information comes from a federal initiative in the state of New York that was modeled on successful campaigns against drunk driving and seatbelt usage violations.  The campaign went into effect in Hartford and Syracuse, and was funded by the Department of Transportation.  Transportation Sec. LaHood provided $400,000 to fund to separate programs in Hartford and Syracuse, to test the effectiveness of the enforcement campaign against cell phone use while driving.

The basis for the campaign was that public awareness initiatives do only so much to reduce undesirable driving practices.  For instance, the Buckle up for Safety campaign which was intended to increase seat belt usage rates, has been widely recognized as a failure.  However, the Click It or Ticket campaign that penalizes motorists who fail to wear seatbelts while driving has been effective in increasing seat belt usage rates.

Similarly, while anti-drunk driving messages on television can be a potent message against intoxicated driving, the increased use of sobriety checkpoints around California have been much more effective in actually reducing the numbers of intoxicated drivers in our streets, and reducing the numbers of drunk driving accidents.  The bottom line is that compliance with laws is greater when there is enforcement that comes with fines and penalties for violations.

In Hartford and Syracuse, the campaign went on for two years, and included strong public education campaigns as well as enforcement.  The results have been clear to see.  In Syracuse, police issued more than 9,587 citations to persons who were talking a texting while driving.   Last year, in Hartford, 9,658 citations were issued for cell phone use and texting while driving.  In both cities, there was a substantial decline in the use of handheld cell phones and texting while driving.  Both behaviors declined by about one third.  In Hartford, there was a 57% drop in the use of hand-held cell phones while driving, as well as a 75% drop in texting while driving.

The success of these programs clearly shows that a combination of awareness and enforcement is the most effective in ensuring compliance with distracted driving laws.  There are lessons here for California, where Los Angeles car accident attorneys have seen limited success with anti-distracted driving laws.  California has laws banning handheld cell phone use and testing while driving, but has not seen a dramatic decline in such behaviors.

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