CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- More than 450 car accidents were linked to cell phone or other electronic distraction last year in West Virginia, and some say the problem of distracted driving isn't going to get better anytime soon.
"It's just going to get worse," said Sgt. Shawn Williams with the Charleston Police Department traffic division.
Across the state, some form of electronic communication device caused 325 accidents out of more than 60,000 last year, according to statistics from the Traffic Engineering Division of the West Virginia Division of Highways.
An additional 114 accidents were caused by some other form of electronic distraction, according to the DOH, including an iPod, the radio or a GPS device.
Those numbers are compiled from State Police highway patrols and do not include individual statistics collected by local municipalities.
In Charleston, at least 22 crashes were caused by "distraction by electronic communication," Williams said.
Officers fill out a crash form for each accident. The form includes a box to check for electronic distraction, which includes anything from using a cell phone or text messaging, to changing a song on an iPod, Williams said.
Williams said although 22 crashes have been officially linked to some form of electronic device, the number probably isn't accurate.
"Based on my experiences, it's much higher than that," he said. "Lots of people aren't totally honest when we ask them what they were doing at the time of the crash."
Currently, using a cell phone while driving is only a secondary offense in West Virginia, so Williams said, "It's hard to enforce. We need something with more teeth in it."
West Virginia motorists can't be pulled over for using the phone. Officers can cite them for phone use only if they are first pulled over for something else, such as speeding or running a red light, Williams said.
"We don't want to put someone on a street corner and have them looking for text messaging, but we also want to avoid injuries and crashes as much as we can," he said.
A bill introduced in the state Senate last week would make it a misdemeanor and primary offense to write, read or send a text message while operating a vehicle.
A second provision would require drivers to use hands-free devices while having conversations on wireless phones, except during an emergency.
This is the second time that the bill, which was first drafted during interim committee meetings late last year, has come before the Senate, said Delegate Nancy Guthrie, D-Kanawha.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- More than 450 car accidents were linked to cell phone or other electronic distraction last year in West Virginia, and some say the problem of distracted driving isn't going to get better anytime soon.
"It's just going to get worse," said Sgt. Shawn Williams with the Charleston Police Department traffic division.
Across the state, some form of electronic communication device caused 325 accidents out of more than 60,000 last year, according to statistics from the Traffic Engineering Division of the West Virginia Division of Highways.
An additional 114 accidents were caused by some other form of electronic distraction, according to the DOH, including an iPod, the radio or a GPS device.
Those numbers are compiled from State Police highway patrols and do not include individual statistics collected by local municipalities.
In Charleston, at least 22 crashes were caused by "distraction by electronic communication," Williams said.
Officers fill out a crash form for each accident. The form includes a box to check for electronic distraction, which includes anything from using a cell phone or text messaging, to changing a song on an iPod, Williams said.
Williams said although 22 crashes have been officially linked to some form of electronic device, the number probably isn't accurate.
"Based on my experiences, it's much higher than that," he said. "Lots of people aren't totally honest when we ask them what they were doing at the time of the crash."
Currently, using a cell phone while driving is only a secondary offense in West Virginia, so Williams said, "It's hard to enforce. We need something with more teeth in it."
West Virginia motorists can't be pulled over for using the phone. Officers can cite them for phone use only if they are first pulled over for something else, such as speeding or running a red light, Williams said.
"We don't want to put someone on a street corner and have them looking for text messaging, but we also want to avoid injuries and crashes as much as we can," he said.
A bill introduced in the state Senate last week would make it a misdemeanor and primary offense to write, read or send a text message while operating a vehicle.
A second provision would require drivers to use hands-free devices while having conversations on wireless phones, except during an emergency.
This is the second time that the bill, which was first drafted during interim committee meetings late last year, has come before the Senate, said Delegate Nancy Guthrie, D-Kanawha.
Last year, a bill that would have prohibited motorists from using handheld cell phones, except in emergencies, died at the last minute after the state Senate added an unrelated provision to increase funding for subsidized construction of cell phone towers.
Under the latest bill, text messaging would bring fines of $50 for the first offense, $100 for the second and $200 after that. Cell phone penalties would be $25, $50 and $75.
The issue of distracted driving has taken a front seat in legislation across the nation lately.
At the end of January, the federal Department of Transportation banned truck and bus drivers from sending text messages on handheld devices while operating commercial vehicles of more than 10,000 pounds.
Twenty-one states and Washington, D.C., now prohibit text messaging for all drivers, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. Additionally, states such as California, New York, New Jersey and others have banned talking on cell phones in a car, unless the driver is using a hands-free device.
In October, President Barack Obama issued an executive order that took effect in January and prohibits all federal employees from typing on a mobile phone while driving.
Distracted driving is any non-driving activity a person engages in that has the potential to distract from the primary task of driving and increase the risk of crashing, according to the U.S. DOT.
The most common type of distracted driving is using a cell phone, but the DOT notes that eating and drinking, talking to passengers, grooming, using a PDA or navigation system or changing the radio station can all lead to accidents.
According to research done at the University of Utah, using a cell phone while driving, whether it's handheld or hands-free, delays a driver's reactions as much as having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
According to the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, cell phone distractions, including phone calls and text messaging, cause more than 1,643 crashes, 904 injuries and eight deaths per day.
While West Virginia hasn't really started to break down the numbers yet, having legislation in place making it illegal for people to send messages on their phones could help reduce accidents, Guthrie said.
"One thing this bill was designed to do was to help us create a statistical base for crash numbers," Guthrie said.
After that, starting an educational process would be the next step to ensuring driver safety.
And, Guthrie said, that "can't happen a moment too soon."
Reach Kathryn Gregory at kathr...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5119.
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The implication that people are not distracted by using cell phones or texting is manifestly absurd.
"What is the difference between my having a conversation with my passenger and holding a burger in one hand as opposed to talking on speakerphone or holding the phone up to my ear?" he asked. "Nothing. I would much prefer that no new laws be passed on this subject. I am not convinced that talking on a cell phone while driving is a problem."
The report also found that despite a huge increase in cell phone use, there is no indication that talking on the phone and texting is adding to the overall national crash problem. That finding runs counter to most studies — including one released last week by the National Safety Council, which found that 28 percent of all crashes nationwide involved drivers talking on their phones or texting — an increase to 1.6 million collisions in 2008 compared with 1 million in an earlier review.
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_14290083?nclick_check=1
As tougher penalties for drivers ignoring California's ban on handheld cell phones are being considered, a study released today reaches a surprising conclusion: Hands-free phone laws don't reduce crashes.
"This is very surprising, and something we didn't expect," said Russ Rader, a spokesman for the Highway Loss Data Institute, which conducted the study. "It certainly warrants more studies, and we'll be taking a much closer look at this."
The safety agency for the first time looked at insurance collision claims in California, New York, Connecticut and Washington, D.C., all of which prohibit the use of a handheld phone while behind the wheel.
The study compared data from surrounding states without bans on cell phone use. It found that the frequency of collision claims in California before and after its hands-free law passed were no different from those in Nevada,