Both the West Virginia House of Delegates and the State Senate are looking to pass bills that would make texting while driving a misdemeanor offense, but new data shows no reductions in crashes in states where such bans already exist.

Senate Bill 438 would make receiving or sending a text message via cell phone when driving a misdemeanor and would come with a $50 fine for first offense. Law enforcement officers would only be able to issue the citations as a secondary offense, meaning the driver would have to be pulled over for primary offense, such as speeding, defective equipment, etc.

The bill is sponsored by State Sens. John Unger, D-Berkeley; Evan Jenkins, D-Cabell; John Fanning, D-McDowell; Robert Plymale, D-Wayne; Randy White, D-Webster; Clark Barnes, R-Randolph; Corey Palumbo, D-Kanawha; Brooks McCabe, D-Kanawha; Douglas Facemire, D-Braxton; William Laird, D-Fayette; Dan Foster, D-Kanawha; Larry Edgell, D-Wetzel; Jeffrey Kessler, D-Ohio; and Erik Wells, D-Kanawha.

On the other side if the State Capitol Complex, House Bill 2995 would also make texting while driving a misdemeanor and fine drivers $100 for a first offense.

“If you watch a lot of TV…a lot of kids are getting killed texting while driving,” explained Del. Ralph Rodighiero, D-Logan. Rodighiero is one of 10 co-sponsors of the House bill. “I think at one time there was one child that texted over 20,000 times per month and she admitted that 75 percent of it was while she was driving. It’s a safety hazard for the child and for the people that’s on the road in addition to her.”

Other co-sponsors are Dels. Jeff Eldridge, D-Lincoln; Dale Martin, D-Putnam; Larry Barker, D-Boone; Sam Argento, D-Nicholas; Linda Phillips, D-Wyoming; Greg Butcher, D-Logan; Virginia Mahan, D-Summers; Daniel Hall, D-Wyoming; and Daryl Cowles, R-Morgan.

“How can you possibly, safely text and drive your vehicle,” asked Rodighiero. “You really can’t, you know? You lose your concentration; you’re not thinking of the next exit or the car up ahead that may be pulling out. You’re mind is on the conversation. I think it should be a primary offense just like a seat belt, but this is the first step in getting something passed.”

The House and State Senate bills could be passed within the coming weeks, but a study released last month by the Highway Loss Data Institute says there are no reductions in crashes in states that have implemented cell phone bans. The study looked at crash statistics in four jurisdictions before the bans and after. From a press release:

Month-to-month fluctuations in rates of collision claims in jurisdictions with bans didn’t change from before to after the laws were enacted. Nor did the patterns change in comparison with trends in jurisdictions that didn’t have such laws.

“The laws aren’t reducing crashes, even though we know that such laws have reduced hand-held phone use, and several studies have established that phoning while driving increases crash risk,” says Adrian Lund, president of both the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and HLDI. For example, an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study that relies on driver phone records found a 4-fold increase in the risk of injury crashes. A study in Canada found a 4-fold increase in the risk of crashes involving property damage. Separate surveys of driver behavior before and after hand-held phone use bans show reductions in the use of such phones while driving.

The HLDI database doesn’t identify drivers using cellphones when their crashes occur. However, reductions in observed phone use following bans are so substantial and estimated effects of phone use on crash risk are so large that reductions in aggregate crashes would be expected. In New York the HLDI researchers did find a decrease in collision claim frequencies, relative to comparison states, but this decreasing trend began well before the state’s ban on hand-held phoning while driving and actually paused briefly when the ban took effect. Trends in the District of Columbia, Connecticut, and California didn’t change.

HLDI – Laws banning cellphone use while driving fail to reduce crashes, new insurance data indicate

“You could probably use that same statistic against seat belts also,” said Rodighiero in reaction to the HLDI study. “Common sense tells you if you’re texting and driving, odds are three to one that you’re going to have an accident as opposed to watching the road and watching where you’re going. Because a lot of people have trouble driving watching where they’re going…especially teenagers.”

“They’ll be some people who disagree with it, but for the safety of the people – the people that’s texting and the people that’s driving on the road – I think it’s a great bill,” added Rodighiero.

Check out the full five-page study from HLDI below:
HLDI – Laws banning cellphone use while driving fail to reduce crashes, new insurance data indicate

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