Cell phone ban while driving

Quote: EvenBob

I've witnessed it for the last 10 years.

Right. You witness a lot of things.
I guess you witness "beating roulette" too (or whatever you call your method of surely winning) ...

Seriously, what you are referring to is called "anecdotal evidence". Look it up.

Quote:

But I'm sure its just another urban myth, talking on the phone while driving actually makes you a better driver,
the truth will come out eventually.

I don't know if it makes you a better driver or not. The data shows that there is no correlation between cell phone use and traffic accident rates.
So, probably, no, it is not making you a better driver either. The only conclusion actually supported by the factual data is that it just does not affect your driving skills at all.
That is, provided that better drivers get into accidents less often than the not-so-good ones, which is not indisputable either. Speaking of anecdotal evidence, I know a woman, who is a terrible driver (by her own admission, which I wholeheartedly agree with), yet has been driving accident-free for more than 30 years, not even a fender-bender.

Actually there's a nice worksafebc study that kind of puts all of the relevant points together:

Link here

From that paper, you really can't come to a conclusion. Japan shows a big reduction in collisions as a result of the cell phone ban. But Canadian studies show that accidents attributed to cell phone use is very low compared to even other distractions. The paper notes that the act of hands free vs non-hands free makes no difference.

The study also notes that the use of hand-held phones before the ban and years after the ban in New York state has not changed. There was a reduction immediately after the ban but the rate rose to pre-ban levels.

You also can't really state that because accidents have not increased despite the increase in cell phone users indicates that cell phone users don't cause accidents. Accident rates decrease because of other reasons -- road safety and awareness, the demographics of drivers, graduated licensing, awareness for drunk driving, etc.

Truly, there needs to be a large scale study of accidents and their causes. If the number of accidents caused by the cell phone are lower than those of other perfectly legal distractions (other passengers, the radio), then there's no point of a ban and the enforcement of the ban by the cell phone.

But because evidence is lacking, or at least in conflict, authorities have leaned to the side of caution, and I'm okay with that.

Quote: boymimbo

You also can't really state that because accidents have not increased despite the increase in cell phone users indicates that cell phone users don't cause accidents.

No, of course not. I am not saying that. I am saying that there is no data suggesting that they do, and all the dramatic talk about "saving lives", and scary pictures in junk mail posters, etc., - all of that is just a big cloud of smoke.

Bottom line is they just want to ban cell phones because they can, there is no real reason for that. "Leaning to the side of caution" would be, among other things, to mandate that everybody wears a helmet everywhere. That actually would save both lives and expenses. It costs about 50 billion per year to care for brain injury victims.

What I don't understand is why they are pushing this so hard. When it comes to politics and stupid laws, there can only be one reason. But in this case, I can't figure out who is willing to pay for the stupidity.

I am definitely for the banning of cell phone usage while driving. I'm not sure if the federal govt should be the ones doing the lawmaking on that one, but I am ok with them making a recommendation. It really does save lives. Did anyone see that story about the teenager that was texting before the holidays and caused a huge pileup, killing himself and the other people involved? So sad. And, I get it...it's hard not to do. I usually throw my phone in the back seat so I can't get to it. :)