Texting and Driving Laws Do Not Eliminate All Accidents

 Posted on December 00, 0000 in Car Accidents

When the nation attempted to crack down on drinking and driving, a national ad campaign was launched to raise awareness about the problem. In 1980, for example, the year that Candy Lightner founded Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), there were estimated to be more than 21,000 Americans killed in drunk driving accidents. Today, that number has decreased by almost 50 percent.

With social evolution and technological advances, of course, come new challenges. Today’s greatest driving safety challenge may not have to do with intoxicating substances, but with devices ubiquitous in our everyday lives. Texting and driving has become one of the greatest new road safety challenges of the 21st century. And many states have launched campaigns—in the tradition of MADD way back in 1980—to combat this.

In 2014, Illinois put into effect a new law that not only banned texting and driving, but represented one of the strictest measures in the country against the use of handheld mobile devices while driving. NBC Chicago reports that statistics gathered soon after the law was put into place showed that the crackdown was having an effect—depending on where you lived. Evanston, Illinois, was one area in which the new law seemed to have a strong impact. Police there reported that more than $100,000 had been collected for the city based on tickets given for handheld device use infractions; more than 500 in the first few months of the new law.

Laws against the use of handheld devices while driving seem to have positive effects nationwide, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics suggest. Regardless, an estimated 6 percent of drivers nationwide are using an electronic device while driving at any given time, and these laws have not completely eradicated the problem of distracted driving, by any means. In 2013, according to Distraction.gov, more than 3,150 people were killed in distracted driving accidents.