(Newswire.net — April 5, 2019) — Car crashes are among the most common cause of death from one state to the next. Each day, more than 102 fatal car incidents occur across the United States.
The causes range from unfit road conditions to drunk driving. One of the most common is distracted driving, and texting is the chief factor in those fatal collisions.
Each year, thousands of lives are lost to incidents in which texting played an essential role. Beyond that, tens of thousands of injuries occur, with much pain and suffering for the victims, collision lawsuits, and overtaxed emergency rooms.
Now a study published in the American Journal of Public Health has clearly linked visits to the ER with texting while driving. It turns out that states that have banned texting while driving record fewer ER visits, arguably as a direct a result of the legislative shift.
The Study
In an effort to determine the causes of and solutions for injuries and fatalities on the roads, a group of researchers compared emergency room data from 16 U.S. states between the years of 2007 and 2014.
The 16 states were not chosen at random. Indeed, researchers selected the states with the most accessible data for comparing motor vehicle injuries with emergency department visits and care.
The authors of the study also looked at how many of the 16 states had texting-while-driving bans during that time period. Currently, 47 U.S. states have laws against texting while driving — some stricter than others.
For example, some states have light restrictions that forbid only new drivers from texting at the wheel; while in others, law enforcement officers can pull over and issue a ticket to any driver who is seen texting.
Fifteen states out of the 16 had laws that ban texting while driving, and researchers found that states that have texting bans, no matter how strict, saw a 4 percent reduction in annual emergency-room visits. Even better, states that imposed strict bans on all drivers reported an 8 percent reduction in collision-related ER visits.
The study also looked at the age of people injured in texting-related car crashes. They found no age differences among those who were injured. Even individuals not known for texting in the driver’s seat, such as senior citizens, had fewer ER-worthy collisions when these laws were in place.
Driving Laws Save Lives
The key takeaway from the study is that traffic laws put in place to protect drivers do indeed work. “The law can be a very useful public health intervention,” Alva Ferdinand, lead author of the study and assistant professor at Texas A&M University wrote in the report. “There are lives that can be saved and injuries prevented as a result of these laws.”
The study is significant because it’s one of the first to show the benefits of laws that prohibit texting while driving. Other studies have only examined the number of accidents, injuries, or deaths that occurred due to texting while driving. This one suggests that legal action is essential to reduce injuries and deaths.
This is not the first time traffic laws have saved lives. Before laws that required the use of seatbelts were passed, deaths were nearly a third greater than they are now.
We now know that wearing seatbelts reduces the odds of dying in a car crash by 45 percent, and people who don’t wear their seatbelt are 30 times more likely to be ejected from the vehicle during a collision.
Further Research to Come
This study is not without flaws, so further research is desirable to prove beyond any doubt that legislatures have the ability to reduce deaths from vehicle collisions. The main deficiency of the study, according to Ferdinand, is that the sample size was too small.
Not enough states lack all texting laws so a definitive comparison may be made. In addition, the study did not measure how effectively the laws are administered in each state, and which laws, in particular, are the most effective for lowering the number of crashes.
Ferdinand asserted that further research would be performed with the aim of obtaining data from all 50 states. But she added she is confident that the trends will prove accurate in multiple cases, which should support a drive for better legislation to protect drivers and their passengers everywhere.