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Thursday, September 30, 2010

Texting bans appear to increase the risk of driving accidents

A study published this week by researchers at the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) in the USA has found that laws banning texting while driving aren't reducing the number of accidents. Instead, there appears to be a slight increase in the number of collisions.

The HLDI survey looked at insurance claims in California, Louisiana, Minnesota and Washington before and after 'texting bans' were introduced. (Most US states now have similar laws). Data was also collected in nearby states where text/driving laws remained relatively unchanged.

Month-to-month changes in the rates of collision claims didn't alter much from before the bans to after the bans were put in place – and the patterns didn't differ much from those in nearby states that didn't ban texting. Any changes in crash rates showed an accident increase in the text-ban states, from 1% more crashes in Washington to around 9% in Minnesota. Younger drivers – those more likely to send SMS text messages when driving – were more likely to have accidents following the ban, with a 12% increase noted in California.

The HDLI's survey also indicates that many drivers, especially younger ones, are ignoring the bans, with 45% of 18-24 year-olds in states with a text/driving ban saying they were breaking the law.

Adrian Lund, president of the HLDI, said "Texting bans haven't reduced crashes at all. In a perverse twist, crashes increased in 3 of the 4 states we studied after bans were enacted. It's an indication that texting bans might even increase the risk of texting for drivers who continue to do so despite the laws. The point of texting bans is to reduce crashes, and by this essential measure the laws are ineffective."

"If drivers were disregarding the bans, then the crash patterns should have remained steady. So clearly drivers did respond to the bans somehow, and what they might have been doing was moving their phones down and out of sight when they texted, in recognition that what they were doing was illegal. This could exacerbate the risk of texting by taking drivers' eyes further from the road and for a longer time."

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Opinion Articles

Why the cloud will kill SMS text messages... eventually

Mark Bridge writes:

This week my lovely wife made a rare error in leaving her mobile phone behind when she left the house. Fortunately I was working at home, so I was able to answer her calls and relay her messages. But it got me thinking. What were the alternatives?

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This week at The Fonecast: 1st May 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

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As well as having another short week, we've also had another week of financial figures.

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This week at The Fonecast: 23rd April 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

It’s Easter, but that’s not stopped the mobile phone industry from generating plenty of news stories.

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Exactly how boring is the Samsung Galaxy II S?

Mark Bridge writes:

In July last year I wrote about the 'geek porn' of unboxing being taken to a new level with celebrity unboxing (which sounds rather like a challenge from a reality TV show).

Sony Ericsson had persuaded Maria Sharapova to give her first impressions of the X10 Mini Pro. The end result was entertaining, if not insightful.

And now Samsung have added a new facet to the trend with 'extreme unboxing'.

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This week at The Fonecast: 16th April 2011

Mark Bridge writes:

We started this week with a story that grabbed plenty of attention. It was a report from Billmonitor.com that claimed we in the UK were wasting almost £5 billion every year by choosing the wrong mobile tariffs. Although I remained a little cynical about some of the detail, there's no doubt that many consumers could be better off if they switched tariff - or even network.

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