Cell-phone use by drivers was a contributing factor in 240,000 accidents that killed 995 people in 2002, according to government estimates recently revealed via a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the Center for Auto Safety and Public Citizen.
The estimate was included in a set of documents obtained by the advocacy groups and published by the New York Times. The estimate was part of research conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 2003, but the agency hadn't released the information to the public until the FOIA lawsuit. The newspaper notes that figures on cell-phone-related fatalities and accidents are estimates only because determining whether a driver is using a cell phone at the time of the accident is difficult without an eye witness or access to phone records.
While several states have passed legislation prohibiting drivers from using handheld devices while driving, each of the state laws allows drivers to use hand-free devices. In the newly released documents, the NHTSA says that such legislation is ineffective because studies have found little difference between hands-free devices and handheld devices when it came to driving safely.
For example, a study published in December 2008 found that divers make more mistakes when talking on a cell phone than when talking to passengers--even when drivers used a hands-free cell phone.
The documents published by the New York Times include recommendations. The NHTSA recommends that drivers shouldn't use cell phones (handheld or hands-free) at all while driving, except in an emergency. In a proposed policy, the NHTSA says that instead of using a cell phone while driving, drivers should find a safe place to stop the car to call or receive a call, allow a passenger to receive handle the call, or let voice mail handle any incoming calls. The documents states that employers should adopt policies that implement the guidelines.
HR.BLR.com's Cell Phone Laws & Policies Center has a chart that lists the various state laws covering the use of cell phones while driving:
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