# Banning the use of  hand held cell phones while driving ?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-the-use-of-hand-held-cell-phones-while-driving/601116>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [October 28, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-the-use-of-hand-held-cell-phones-while-driving/601116 "2011-10-28T20:27:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-the-use-of-hand-held-cell-phones-while-driving/601116/81 "2011-11-03T19:46:43Z")

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> [@HookerChemical](#):
>
> Does it matter if cell phone bans are ineffective, because at least [one study](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123084040) says they are?

Murder is banned as well, and it also has not stopped. I guess we should lift the ban.

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**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-the-use-of-hand-held-cell-phones-while-driving/601116/82 "2011-11-03T20:15:54Z")

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> [@Stoid](#):
>
> Murder is banned as well, and it also has not stopped. I guess we should lift the ban.

If we legalized murder, and the rate did not go up, you might have a point. No one is going to try that. But we have tried banning cell phone use while driving, and the results have not been what we might have hoped. Admittedly this is partially due to low compliance with the ban.

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**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\
**Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banning-the-use-of-hand-held-cell-phones-while-driving/601116/83 "2011-11-03T21:14:03Z")

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> [@Muffin](#):
>
> Of course I read 4.2. The section that I cited was 4.1 Summary, and the following section that you quoted was 4.2 Limitations. If you believe that the limitations invalidate the summary, that is your choice. I read the limitations as being limitations that do not invalidate the summary.

Really? You didn’t see their own statement that there was no actual decrease in hand cell phone use during their study as a fatal flaw? You can run statistical studies forever, but if the event doesn’t happen, there can’t be causality.

I also note they omitted the obvious step of comparing their results against states that didn’t change their cell phone laws during that time frame.

If is also interesting to note that this study was cited by

**Did California’s hand-held cell phone ban reduce accidents?**  
[http://inside.mines.edu/~dkaffine/CELLACCIDENTS.pdf](http://inside.mines.edu/~dkaffine/CELLACCIDENTS.pdf)

> [@](#):
>
> Abstract  
> On July 1st, 2008, California enacted a ban on hand-held cell phone use while driving. Using California Highway Patrol panel accident data for California freeways from January 1st, 2008 to December 31st, 2008, we examine whether this policy reduced the number of accidents on California highways. To control for unobserved time-varying effects that could be correlated with the ban, we use high-frequency data and a regression discontinuity design. **We found no evidence that the ban on hand-held cell phone use led to a reduction in traffic accidents.**

The tentative conclusions I would reach are:  
[ul]  
[li]Handsfree cell phone use don’t actually reduce driver distraction.[/li][li]Laws against cell phone use don’t actually result in significant changes in driver behavior.[/li][li]Handsfree laws may actually make the problem worse by making it easier for drivers to talk on the cellphone while driving.[/li][/ul]

The easiest way to change driver behavior is to advertise the fact that if you are in an accident, the other driver’s insurance company will subpoena your cell phone records.

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