A new study by the Governor's Highway Safety Association (GHSA) found that as many as 3 out of ten auto accidents involved distracted drivers. While we may immediately think of cell phone use and texting while driving, the study also included other distractions such as eating or drinking, reading, personal grooming, and even talking to passengers. Anything that drew the driver's attention away from the task of driving and used their hands, eyed, or ears was considered to be a distraction.
While all distractions that fell into that definition were found to increase the risk of an accident, the GHSA study, which used data collected from a number of previous studies by other agencies, concluded that there is no good data by which the relative risks of cell phone use versus other types of distractions can be evaluated. In other words, using a cell phone while driving might be no more risky than sipping a cup of coffee or talking with a passenger while driving.
The growth of the popularity of cell phones means that without some countermeasures, the number of drivers distracted by cell phones will continue to grow. Some states have tried to reduce or eliminate cell phone distractions by enacting full or partial bans of cell phone use or texting while driving. Despite this, the GHSA report states that there is no definitive evidence that such bans have any effect at all on reducing accidents.
In part, this lack of results can be attributed to the fact that despite these bans, drivers, especially younger drivers, continue to use cell phones while driving. Furthermore, says the GHSA study, drivers trying to hide their cell phone use while driving may be even more at risk for accidents because they are looking away for a longer period of time when trying to use their phones.
One thing that did seem to work was educating drivers about the dangers of distracted driving the more people understand the risk, the more likely they are to take steps to avoid driving while distracted.