Practice Area - Car Accidents

Car Accidents Same After Cell Phone Bans

Posted on Feb 01, 2010

We have to admit, when Oregon passed the law to ban cell phones while driving, we got a little excited. We supported it, we championed it . . . heck, we even obeyed it. But even then, in the back of our minds, we wondered how much good it would really do.

Would people give up their cell phones? Would they driver safer? Would they be more aware?

This New York Times article on car accidents, unfortunately, gives us a glimpse.

According to the article, the number of car accidents virtually stayed the same in the states that have implemented a cell phone ban already, including Oregon's neighbor to the north. And while the numbers are still new, and few, there is of course always room for speculation.

So what do we think? We think that distracted driving is not connected directly to cell phone use. Distracted driving is not about dialing or texting, it's about not paying attention to the road. Honestly, we think that since the number of people using cell phones actually went down, but car accident numbers did not, that there's a good chance those people who couldn't live without their cell phone before probably went out and bought BlueTooth and other such systems, and are still not paying attention to the road.

Since cell phone bans have been implemented and the federal government has taken on distracted driving, there have been many studies to try to understand how this affects drivers and causes accidents. There are some arguments that cell phones were a distraction not because people had to free up a hand to use them, but because a person on a cell phone was not focusing all of their attention on the road and traffic around them.

Oregon is only a month into its cell phone ban, and we are still hopeful that it may make at least some difference. But until the numbers come out, we will not know. So until then, we ask that everyone avoid using cell phone and other devices while driving. Your eyes and mind need to be on the road. And that's all there is to it.

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Shulman DuBois is located at 1553 SE Tolman Street, Portland, OR 97202. Call us at 503-222-4411 or email us at info@pdxinjurylaw.com.

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