Two Cities Find an Effective Way to Combat Distracted Driving

Over the last year, police in Syracuse and Hartford have been tough on multitasking drivers. Combined, officers in the two cities have handed out nearly 20,000 tickets for illegal use of a phone while driving — either for texting or use of a handheld phone.

At the same time, high-profile education campaigns in Syracuse and Hartford have warned of the dangers of such multitasking.

According to the federal government, these efforts have had the desired effect: Distracted driving has fallen sharply.

In Syracuse, handheld cellphone use and texting have each fallen by one-third. In Hartford, handheld cellphone use by drivers fell 57 percent while texting fell by 75 percent.

Those conclusions are courtesy of the United States Department of Transportation, which helped finance the enforcement and the research in the two cities, and which under Secretary Ray LaHood has made a big issue of distracted driving. The agency contends that in 2009, distracted drivers caused nearly 5,500 deaths and 500,000 injuries.

Research shows that drivers talking on a phone are four times as likely to get into a crash as those not on a phone, and that the risks for motorists who text are at least twice as high.

Mr. LaHood has said he believes motorists should not use their phones when driving and should focus entirely on the act of driving. That is the position of many experts, as well.

But other safety advocates have been unsure about what strategy is best in combating the use of cellphones by motorists. Last week, for instance, the Governor’s Highway Safety Association, which is made up of state highway safety officials, said more research was needed to determine what laws were most effective.

Most pointedly, the group says that the 41 states that do not ban handheld use of phones for motorists should hold off on passing such legislation until more research is done on the effectiveness of such laws in states like California.

Today, the association said the new research on Syracuse and Hartford by the transportation department did a great deal to demonstrate the effectiveness of such laws.

“The demonstration projects in Hartford and Syracuse are truly a step in that direction,” Vernon Betkey, chairman of the association, said in a statement.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an agency at the transportation department that measured driver behavior during the tests in Syracuse and Hartford, plans to extend to the state level what it called a “three-part formula — tough laws, strong enforcement and ongoing public awareness.”


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