Reverse psychology seems to be putting a hitch in solving problems with texting and driving. New research shows that laws banning text messaging behind the wheel aren't exactly slamming the brakes on the activity. In fact, a Tuesday study from the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) suggested that such bans might actually increase the number of texting-related collisions.
"Texting bans haven't reduced crashes at all," said Adrian Lund, president of the HLDI and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. "In a perverse twist, crashes increased in three of the four states we studied after bans were enacted."
The findings were released in conjunction with the annual Governors State Highway Safety meeting, and they're in line with an earlier HLDI study that had similarly disturbing results. The information is based on the frequency of insurance claims filed over the past nine years in California, Minnesota, Louisiana, and Washington - before and after texting while driving was banned.
Issues with texting while driving are not new, and they're creating a significant problem. Stats from AAA reveal that 52 percent of drivers don't feel as safe as they did on the road five years ago. According to the Transportation Department, distracted driving resulted in 5,474 deaths in the U.S. last year, similar to the 2008 figure. The number accounted for 16 percent of traffic-related fatalities in 2009, and the majority of drivers in these situations are under 20-years-old.
HLDI found similar results. In the four states studied, texting-and-driving crashes went up most among drivers younger than 25 after the texting bans went into effect. In California alone, post-texting ban crashes went up 12 percent among young drivers.
Lund suggested that the increase could be attributed to some drivers "moving their phones down and out of sight when they texted, in recognition that what they were doing was illegal. This could exacerbate the risk of texting by taking drivers' eyes further from the road and for a longer time."
According to Lund, the evidence "calls into question the way policymakers are trying to address the problem of distracted driving crashes."