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Cellphone bans and fatal motor vehicle crash rates in the United States

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Abstract

A number of states in the United States have laws restricting drivers from using cellphones. Using state-level panel data, we examined the effect of cellphone laws on fatal crashes in the United States between 2000 and 2010. Our results show that there is insufficient power to detect a reduction in overall fatal crash rates scaled by vehicle miles and population estimates. Cellphone bans, however, have significantly reduced the fatal crash rates of drivers in certain age cohorts. The effect was most pronounced among drivers between 18 and 34 years of age. We did not find any significant effect among drivers in the 55 and older age cohorts.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Lyn Cianflocco of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for assisting with the FARS data and Eric Pennington of the Rahall Transportation Institute for excellent research assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agribusiness & Applied Economics, North Dakota State University, Dept 7610, PO Box 6050, Fargo, 58108–6050, ND, USA

    Siew Hoon Lim

  2. University of Hawaii at Mānoa, 2560 Campus Rd., George Hall 346, Honolulu, 96822, HI, USA

    Junwook Chi

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  1. Siew Hoon Lim
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  2. Junwook Chi
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Correspondence to Siew Hoon Lim.

Additional information

Does regulation of cellphone use by drivers affect motor vehicle crash rates? Comparing different rules and regulations the authors suggest this element of distracted driving can be controlled, but not completely, by government action.

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Lim, S., Chi, J. Cellphone bans and fatal motor vehicle crash rates in the United States. J Public Health Pol 34, 197–212 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/jphp.2013.3

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