The Automobile Club of Southern California says street surveys show California's 2009 ban on in-vehicle text messaging appears to have influenced driver behavior. Results indicate that in-vehicle text messaging has declined significantly in the seven months after the law went into effect on Jan. 1.
The decline indicates that a state texting ban can potentially change driving behavior of motorists, reduce dangerous distracted driving and improve safety, according to the Auto Club.
The Auto Club says its study is the first to examine the effects of California's texting law and the only study conducted on a texting ban anywhere in the United States.
The study was conducted using systematic random samples of a total of 16,500 vehicles passing seven roadside sites in Orange County. Three Auto Club surveys conducted before the texting ban went into effect showed that about 1.4 percent of drivers were texting while driving. The two post-law surveys showed that level had dropped to about 0.4 percent, or a decline of about 70 percent overall.
Through August, the California Highway Patrol issued 1,061 texting tickets statewide. California was the sixth state to ban texting while driving.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood plans to host a distracted driving summit with regulators and stakeholders next Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
The Governors Highway Safety Association reversed an earlier position on text messaging laws and now urges states to pass texting bans much like nearly every state has passed for seat belt use and DUI laws.
However, some parties are calling for a nationwide ban instead of state-by-state laws. A survey on behalf of Ford Motor Company released today showed 86 percent of licensed U.S. drivers described handheld texting while driving as "very dangerous," with 93 percent supporting a nationwide ban on texting.
Sixty-seven percent of drivers said they believed voice-activated technology is a safe alternative to handheld texting.
Ford recently endorsed a proposed nationwide ban on handheld texting introduced by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY).