Monday, July 21, 2014

Study: Cell Phone Bans While Driving Don't Reduce Accidents

Vox reports:
Conventional wisdom suggested that talking on a cell phone while driving is bad for you and everyone around you—as dangerous as drinking and driving—and increased the risk of accidents.

Now, a new study suggests conventional wisdom may be wrong as far as accidents are concerned. Researchers at the University of Colorado and RAND Corporation wanted to better understand the impact of the cell phone legislation. After California enacted a ban on driving with a hand-held mobile in July 2008, they designed a study that looked at accident rates before and after the new law.

According to their research, published in the journal Transportation Research, they found no evidence of a reduction in accidents.

Daniel Kaffine, an associate professor of economics at the University of Colorado at Boulder and an author of the study, says he was "shocked" when he crunched the numbers.

"We were expecting to find maybe a five to ten percent reduction in accidents. We had read the studies that talking on your phone is as dangerous as drinking and driving."The researchers were shocked when they crunched the numbers."" But even after controlling for gas prices, miles traveled, rainfall, and holidays—all factors that impact traffic patterns, road volume, and crashes—they found no impact on the rate of accidents.
Is regulation just one big scam to get campaign contributions from regulated industries?