Oregon Auto Accident Attorney
Auto Accidents and Cell Phone Use - November 2009
Oregon, after passing legislation in 2009 is now one of only seven states that have laws banning hand-held cell phone use while driving and requiring the use of hands-free cell phone devices. Oregon's hands-free cell phone law will become effective January 1, 2010. However, after a recent Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, new data was revealed in July 2009 that banning hands-held cell phone devices may not make driving on our roads any safer.
In fact, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) has silenced their own research for over six years that showed it is the act of talking and driving itself that make cell phones dangerous regardless of whether using hand-held or hands-free devices. According to an article published in The Oregonian, July 21, 2009, Cell phones: Consumer agencies make study public, "Research shows that motorists talking on a phone are four times as likely to crash as other drivers, and are as likely to cause an accident as someone with a 0.08% blood alcohol content."
The LA Times actually broke this information March 25, 2008:
- A 2006 study by David L. Strayer and colleagues at the University of Utah found that drivers tested on simulators performed about the same when they used cellphones as when they had a blood alcohol-level of 0.08%, which made them legally drunk. The drivers actually did better in braking and avoiding rear-end collisions when alcohol-impaired than when they were talking on hand-held or hands-free phones.
The NHTSA which is part of the Department of Transportation (DOT) and in charge of making our highways and roads safer, by doing research on things like motorcycle helmets, seat belts, and child safety seats, actually withheld their own research on the safety of cell phone use while driving an automobile.
The NHTSA National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, mission statement is: "Save lives, prevent injuries, reduce vehicle related crashes."
The NHTSA researchers actually drafted a letter to the governors of US states because of moves in some states to require hands-free cell phone laws. Researchers intended in 2003 to warn these governors that hands free laws may not solve the problem, and could even make the problem worse as drivers using hands-free devices may actually talk more frequently and longer on their cell phones.
According to the Mother Jones October 31,2008 article:
- [...] Researchers at NHTSA feared such hands-free cell phone laws gave an imprimatur of safety to hands-free calling, perhaps encouraging drivers to spend more time on the phone. Overwhelmingly, research worldwide indicates that both hand-held and hands-free cell phones increase the risk of a crash," the letter warned. "We are convinced that legislation forbidding the use of hand-held cell phones...will not be effective" and "may erroneously imply that hands-free phones are safe to use."
The NHTSA fatality and auto accident estimate in 2003 was actually much smaller than other transportation research centers at that time. Harvard's transportation research suggested the number of deaths related to cell phone use while driving in 2002 was actually at 2,600 of that same auto accident yearly death total of 42,000, and 12,000 serious to critical injuries per year involving drivers on cell phones.
However, the NHTSA researchers' 2003 letter to the governors of each state to warn that hands-free devices do not make cell phones any safer than hand-held cell phone use while driving, was never sent to the governors. In fact the NHTSA concealed their own research themselves because of pressures of Congress and DOT, and fears of the powerful and profitable cell phone industry
The NHTSA attempted to avoid even putting their own number on the estimated number of auto deaths and auto accidents that could be attributed to cell phone use while driving. LA Times article from March 25, 2008, "They don't put the numbers out there because the numbers make it a lot harder to explain why you haven't been more active, said
Bill Walsh, former senior associate administrator of the agency."
According to this same LA Times article, in 2008 one survey estimates that 73% of car drivers used a hand-held or hands-free cell phone while driving a car.
From the 2007 NHTSA publication, Driver Electronic Device Use in 2007, NHTSA official policy continued from 2003 to present to be:
NHTSA's policy on using cell phones while driving is conveyed in the following statements from www.nhtsa.gov: "The primary responsibility of the driver is to operate a motor vehicle safely. The task of driving requires full attention and focus. Cell phone use can distract drivers from this task, risking harm to themselves and others. Therefore, the safest course of action is to refrain from using a cell phone while driving.
According to the NHTSA 2005 report, only two states, New York and New Jersey had laws banning hand-held cell phone use while driving, as well as Washington D.C In 2006 Connecticut became only the third state with a law banning hand-held cell phone use. And now Oregon in 2009 is only the seventh state to ban hand-held cell phones while driving.
This NHTSA research coverup about the probable dangers of driving and talking on cell phones started to unravel in March 2008 due to LA Times work on the topic and subsequent articles done by Mother Jones magazine. In fact, it was Ralph Nader's group that he started because of the dangerous Pinto cars in 1970, Center for Auto Safety, that filed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request in the wake of these articles, and then fought the lawsuit demanding that the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration release this information, which was after all publicly funded research.
On this page of the Center for Auto Safety website, you can see the documents which their FOIA lawsuit obtained including the drafted 2003 NHTSA researchers' letter to the governors warning of the dangers of hands-free and hand-held cell phone use while driving.
The below text is from the 2003 NHTSA researchers' letter to the governors that was never sent:
- A significant body of research worldwide indicates that both hand-held and hands-free cell phones increase the risk of a crash. Indeed, research has demonstrated that there is little, if any, difference between the use of hand-held and hands-free phones in contributing to the risk of driving while distracted. In either operational mode, we have found that the cognitive distraction is significant enough to degrade a drivers’ performance.
- We recommend that drivers not use these devices when driving, except in an emergency. Moreover, we are convinced that legislation forbidding the use of handheld cell phones while driving will not be effective since it will not address the problem. In fact, such legislation may erroneously imply that hands-free phones are safe to use while driving.
- We will be working at the national level on an educational campaign to alert drivers to the risks associated with the use of wireless communication devices while driving.
If you have been injured in an Oregon auto accident and believe that the other driver was distracted because they were on the phone, text messaging or fiddling with GPS or other electronic distractions while driving, it is important that you try and get this in your auto accident report. Further, if you are a witness to an auto accident and clearly saw that one of the drivers was distracted by an electronics device while driving their car, it is important that you give this information to the investigating accident officers.
Portland injury attorney Michael A. Colbach is an experienced Oregon auto accident attorney with proven results. Mike also is an experienced bicycle and Oregon truck accident attorney. If you've been injured in an accident, contact Mike for a free consultation as soon as possible so that your rights can be protected.
