AAA Study Shows Texting on Rise in CA Despite Ban - Although the state of California’s recently instituted a ban on texting and driving, the number of people involved in this dangerous behavior isn’t going down – it’s going up. In fact, the number of people texting or using electronic devices has increased almost threefold. These are the results of a recent survey published by AAA of Southern California. Find out about other dealer services at Toyota Dealer Albuquerque. The study shows that prior to the institution of California’s texting ban in January, 2009, about 1.4 percent of drivers were seen texting or otherwise manipulating an electronic device such as a smart phone while they were behind the wheel. In the new study, AAA’s observations at seven Southern California locations indicated that the proportion has risen to 4.1 percent, nearly three times higher.
In news reports, the National Transportation Safety Board said that the country risks a sharp increase in distracted driving crashes until texting and driving is seen to be as unacceptable as drinking and driving. “We need greater public awareness of the dangers of texting and using electronic devices behind the wheel,” said Steve Finnegan, AAA’s Government Affairs Manager. “The state also needs stronger penalties and targeted enforcement to reduce texting while driving – which is really the perfect storm of distraction that takes drivers’ eyes, hands, and brains off the task of driving.” He added that “although the growth of in-car texting and related electronic device use mirrors the explosive growth of wireless use overall in society, it’s very troubling that this growth appears to have overcome the early effectiveness of the current law.”
The greatest degree of change observed by AAA happened in 2010 and 2011. The current survey indicated that 1.9 percent of drivers were texting and driving, which was about 20 percent higher than the previous year’s figure. The proportion of drivers who were observed holding and otherwise using electronic devices, but who weren’t necessarily texting, is now 2.3 percent, twice as much as the past year. Lancaster Ford offers complete services for all your automotive dealership needs. The increases California drivers texting and using electronic devices behind the wheel are consistent with the larger, overall trend of these activities in daily life. On the other hand, when it came to levels of hand-held cell phone use on the road, AAA found that ban was more effective than the texting ban. Since June 2008, shortly before the hand-held cell phone ban began, use of the hand-held cell phone use dropped from 9.3 percent to 3.2 percent, almost 66 percent.
The Auto Club’s results show that California needs to pay more attention to dealing with these important safety problems. “Current penalties for texting while driving in the Golden State haven’t deterred the behavior,” said Finnegan. A motorist caught texting while driving is given a $20 base fine for the first offense and $50 for the second offense. When penalties are added, the cost of a ticket runs between $114 and $143 for the first offense and to about $279 for a second offense. Although other moving violations carry “points” that are placed on a driver’s record, there are no points for texting and driving. “This is unfortunate,” said Finnegan “since research shows that imposing points increases driver compliance with traffic safety laws.”
So far in 2011, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) has written about 15,000 tickets per month for hand-held cell phone use and texting – up appreciably from preceding years. Since California’s cell phone and texting laws started, 410,000 citations have been issued by the CHP. “Giving out that many citations helps explain why we’ve seen a continuing decline in hand-held cell phone use in California,” explained Steven Bloch, Ph.D., the Auto Club’s senior traffic safety researcher. Car Dealers Connecticut is a one stop source for all your new car needs. “The problem is that issuing citations for texting is far more difficult. Drivers typically hold texting and other electronic devices down low, making them hard for law enforcement officers to see. The result is that police agencies give out relatively few texting citations.” The Auto Club’s in-vehicle cell phone and texting surveys were conducted using consistent methods from random samples of about 4,000 vehicles at seven roadside sites in Orange County, California.
Photos (top to bottom) by ShakataGaNai, Ed Brown, ShakataGaNai.
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