Will Indiana's new texting ban keep drivers' eyes on the road?
Indiana drivers who text while driving are now breaking the law. In May 2011, Gov. Mitch Daniels signed House Bill 1129, which slaps those who text behind the wheel with fines of up to $500, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The law went into effect July 1.
The new law bans the use of a telecommunications device to type, send or read a text or electronic mail message while driving. Prior to the texting ban, phone use restrictions applied only to drivers younger than 18 (who are allowed to neither talk on a mobile phone nor text). Under the new law, drivers older than 18 can still talk on their cell phones and use voice-operated technology to transmit a text message.
With its new law, Indiana joins 34 other states (and the District of Columbia) in the prohibition of texting behind the wheel. Ten states (and the District) ban all cellphone use (talking and texting) for all drivers.
For safety advocacy groups, the texting ban is common sense. According to NHTSA, 20 percent of crashes that resulted in injuries in 2009 involved distracted driving, and 18 percent of deaths in distracted driving accidents involved mobile phone distractions. And, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, using a phone while driving delays a driver's reaction time as much as having a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent would.
Texting while driving, according to the Department of Transportation, is a particularly dangerous form of distracted driving. Behind the wheel, drivers face three main types of distractions: visual (taking their eyes off the road), manual (taking their hands off the steering wheel) and cognitive (taking their mind off driving). Texting involves all three types.
Given this relationship between text messaging and tragedy, it may seem like a logical conclusion that texting-while-driving bans will prevent distracted driving accidents. However, that doesn't always seem to be the case. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Highway Loss Data Institute found in 2010 that laws banning texting did not reduce the number of crashes. In fact, crash rates (measured by auto insurance collision claims) increased slightly after such laws took effect in the states the Institute studied.
According to IIHS, this "perverse twist" calls into question the methods lawmakers are using to save lives. For one thing, focusing on and banning one specific aspect of distracted driving does little to combat other driving distractions. In addition, banning texting while driving does not necessarily prevent it from happening on the roads every day.
The effectiveness of Indiana's law remains to be seen. While it may punish drivers who get caught, the increasing role cellphones and smartphones play in our lives poses a challenge to law enforcement -- according to IIHS, texting increased by 60 percent between 2008 and 2009 alone.
