Thursday, December 22, 2011

Insurance group says cell phone bans don't work

Cell phone bans as recently recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board, has so far been useful when it comes to actually reduce car accidents, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Insurance Institute is a private group financed by car insurers. National Transportation Safety Board recently recommended that states adopt strict rules to ban all non-driving related to the use of handheld devices such as mobile phones - even hands free - while driving.

Many states have already banned hand-held cell phone use and texting while driving. Insurance Institute has examined the crash rates before and after the ban came into force in different countries and also compared them to crash rates in nearby states that do not have such a prohibition.

Although bans have resulted in actual reductions in the use of the phone, they have not led to any reduction in crash rates for the Institute.

The institute found similar results in a ban text messaging while driving. In fact, a strange twist, texting bans actually led to more crashes in many states, according to IIHS study.

Lesson, the Insurance Institute spokesman Russ Rader said, it may be that cell phones are not really the problem drivers.

"Some of it is that distracted driving is much greater than just phones," he said, "so focused on mobile phones does not address the whole spectrum of things interfere."

For its part, the NTSB has cited various studies have shown the connection cell phone use and an increased likelihood of crashing. NHTSA study showed that distracted driving caused the 3000 crash deaths last year, although it is not clear how many of the crashes related to handheld devices as opposed to other distractions.

"We know that the best course of action is three-pronged approach - strong laws, strong education and strong enforcement," NTSB spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said the e-mail.

Car manufacturers such as Ford, General Motors, Toyota and Hyundai have invested heavily to create increasingly sophisticated hands-free phone systems for cars. Most of these systems should be banned under proposals by the NTSB. (Exception would be GM's OnStar which allows users to make calls using the phone's built himself a car. NTSB proposal specifically allowed to request such a system, because it does not involve hand-held phone.)

Ford spokeswoman Christin Baker, a proposal opposed by the NTSB, referring to research that will be monitored real-world drivers. The study showed that talking on the phone led to dangerous situations only when the drivers took the eyes off the road and hands on the steering wheel. Voice-activated systems such as Ford Sync, would prevent that, he said.

Experts have said the NTSB's proposal is unlikely to become law in many of the potential, which is due to strong opposition from drivers who want to stay in while driving.

New technologies that will help warn the driver of the dangers on the road are likely to do more for really reducing distracted driving crashes, the Insurance Institute's Rader said.

These technologies are a forward collision warning systems that warn the driver stopped or slow cars or pedestrians ahead of them, and Lane Keeping assistance systems that warn when the vehicle is drifting out of lane.

Both the Insurance Institute and the U.S. Department of Transportation are looking for ways to incorporate systems such as these car safety assessments. As of now, these assessments rely almost exclusively on crash tests.

There is a risk that drivers may over-use of these systems, said Rader, cancels the benefits of only paying even less attention to the driving task.

"It is something that researchers will be watching," said Rader. "What drivers are going to respond to these systems?"

Articles Source:- http://www.news8000.com/money/Insurance-group-says-cell-phone-bans-don-t-work/-/336/5716944/-/qh3d87z/-/

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