WASHINGTON-A newly published study concludes the risk of injury from a vehicular accident is four times higher when the driver is using a hand-held cell phone, regardless of whether hands-free devices are used as cities and states are gradually requiring.
The study, conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and published in the British Medical Journal, said the increased risk was estimated by comparing phone use within 10 minutes before an actual crash occurred with use by the same driver during the prior week. Subjects were drivers treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries suffered in crashes from April 2002 to July 2004.
“The main finding of a fourfold increase in injury crash risk was consistent across groups of drivers,” said Anne McCartt, IIHS vice president for research and an author of the study. “Male and female drivers experienced about the same increase in risk from using a phone. So did drivers older and younger than 30 and drivers using handheld and hands-free phones.”
McCartt added: “Weather wasn’t a factor in the crashes, almost 75 percent of which occurred in clear conditions. Eighty-nine percent of the crashes involved other vehicles. More than half of the injured drivers reported that their crashes occurred within 10 minutes of the start of the trip.”
The IIHS said the study was conducted in the Western Australian city of Perth. The institute said it first tried to conduct this research in the United States, but U.S. phone companies were unwilling to make customers’ billing records available, even with permission from the drivers. Phone records could be obtained in Australia, however, and IIHS said the researchers got a high rate of cooperation among drivers who had been in crashes.
The new data adds to a growing body of U.S. government and university research identifying cell-phone use by drivers as a danger on the nation’s roads and highways and discounting hands-free gadgets as a safety solution. In recent years, driver cell-phone use has been implicated in auto accidents in which there have been fatalities and deaths.
CTIA, the U.S. cell-phone industry association, argues cell phones are one of many driver distractions and that public-safety benefits of phones can not be overlooked. CTIA opposes state laws-like those in several states and cities-that ban driver operation of handheld phones but allow hands-free phone conversations.
“This research, along with other recent studies from the University of Utah and Virginia Tech University, all have similar findings which should impact our public policy discussion about ‘dialing and driving.’ The message is clear: Drivers should not use any type of cell phone behind the wheel,” said Lt. Colonel Jim Champagne, chairman of the Governors Highway Safety Association.
Connecticut recently became the latest state to make it illegal for drivers to use cell phones while behind the wheel, while permitting drivers to carry on conversations while driving using hands-free devices. New York, New Jersey and the District of Columbia have similar laws on the books. On July 8, a ban on driver use of handheld phones went into effect in Chicago. Other cities and states are considering dialing-and-driving bans as well.
