Safe text? Driven to distraction.

• Author: Suderman, Peter
• Position: Citings - Brief article

IN 30 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, it is illegal to text while driving. Each of those laws was enacted in the hope of reducing accidents caused by distracted driving. But they haven't worked.

A September study by the Highway Loss Data Institute, a research organization funded by the auto insurance industry, examined accident claim data from four states that ban texting while driving: California, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Washington. In no case did crash rates decline. In three of the four states, crash rates increased slightly.

The report's authors caution that their findings should not be taken as evidence that texting while driving is not dangerous. Instead, they say the anti-texting laws...