By Cindy Von Quednow
Ventura County Star
BERKELEY, Calif. — A new study shows deadly crashes caused by driver cellphone use have dropped in California since the state enacted a law against the practice, reflecting a local decline in such crashes, too, officials said.
The study from the California Office of Traffic Safety attributes the decline to awareness of the dangers of cellphone use and driving and to compliance with the law. Driving while talking on a hand-held cellphone was banned in July 2008, and minors may not use hands-free phones.
Chris Cochran, a spokesman for the traff ic safety office, said it tallied the numbers because cellphone use and texting while driving is a relatively new phenomenon.
‘Now cellphone use is a normal thing, especially in the last five years, and we began to see crashes that are tied to cellphone use,’ he said.
Researchers at the Safe Transportation Research and Education Center at UC Berkeley found cellphone driver deaths dropped 47 percent when they compared crash records two years before and two years after the 2008 ban. There also were decreases in injury and noninjury crashes involving cellphones.
The Moorpark-area California Highway Patrol officehas seen a drop in all distracted-driving crashes since the law was enacted, said Officer Miguel Duarte, a CHP spokesman.
In 2007, 114 crashes involved distracted driving, compared with 77 in 2008, he said. The number of crashes continued to decrease until 2010, when there was an uptick. 2011 figures are not yet available.
“In general, we’ve seen a drop thanks to the law that came in effect, and it has allowed us to be aggressive and curtail distracted driving.” Duarte said. “Hopefully we can continue that trend and have less traffic collisions where inattention is a factor.”
No fatal collisions involved distracted driving in 2008 after the cellphone ban was enacted, he added. Investigating fatal collisions involving cellphone use can take months. Cochran said the ones included in the study involved completed investigations.
After all crashes, officers talk to everyone involved, including witnesses, Duarte said. If a crash is fatal, they also investigate whether a cellphone was being used. They can examine phone records and talk to the last person with whom the victim communicated, among other things.
A statewide survey done last summer showed 40 percent of California drivers said they talk less while driving since the law was enacted.
In 2011, the traffic safety office did the nation’s first statewide cellphone observational survey. It showed 9 percent of drivers were talking or texting while driving.
CHP offices conduct their own observational surveys, and in 2011 the Moorpark and Ventura stations saw a high compliance rate with the law, authorities said.
“I think people are getting the message of the dangers of distracted driving,” said Officer Steve Reid, a spokesman for the Ventura CHP office. “We are active in enforcement of cellphone laws and provide education and awareness to drivers.”
Cochran said avoiding a hefty fine is enough incentive for some people to stop using a cellphone while driving.
The traffic safety office cited new information from the Department of Motor Vehicles that shows there were 460,487 handheld cellphone convictions last year, up 22 percent from 2010 and 52 percent from 2009. A ticket for a first offense costs at least $159 and costs $279 for later offenses.
Cochran said he understands some people will not be deterred from cellphone use while driving and that the study might be missing crashes where people did not want to admit doing it.
“For some people, even being in a crash is not enough to make them quit,” he said.
Copyright 2012 Ventura County Star