Although the connection between cell phone use and impaired driving is well established, their relation to fatal car accidents could be underreported.
A study by the National Safety Council examined 180 crashes from 2009 to 2011 and discovered that among fatal crashes where the driver was using a cell phone, only 52 percent of them were recorded as such.
For example, in January 2010 a Michigan teenager was talking on the phone to a friend when she passed another vehicle. The teen’s last words to her friend were “I’m going to crash.” She died a few hours later at a hospital but her cell phone use was not mentioned in the crash report.
“We believe the number of crashes involving cell phone use is much greater than what is being reported,” Janet Froetscher president and CEO of the National Safety Council, said in a statement. “Many factors, from drivers not admitting cell phone use, to a lack of consistency in crash reports being used to collect data at the scene, make it very challenging to determine an accurate number.”
Even when drivers admitted cell phone use during a fatal crash, the study found that in about one-half of these cases, the crash was not reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatal Analysis Reporting System.
There are also an unknown number of cases where a cell phone connection to a crash is impossible to determine, such as a driver reading an email or text message on a phone who dies in a crash without any witnesses.
The report also brings up large differences in cell phone distraction fatal crashes reported by states. In 2011, Tennessee reported 93 fatal crashes that involved cell phone use, but New York, a state with a much larger population, reported only one. Texas reported 40, but its neighboring state Louisiana reported none.
The study, “Crashes Involving Cell Phones: Challenges of Collecting and Reporting Reliable Crash Data,” was funded in part by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.
“The public should be aware that cell phone-involved fatal crashes are not accurately being reported,” Bill Windsor, associate vice president of consumer safety at Nationwide, said in a statement. “These statistics influence national prevention priorities, funding decisions, media attention, legislation and policy, even vehicle and roadway engineering. There are wide-ranging, negative ramifications to safety if a fatal crash factor is substantially under-reported, as appears to be the case of cell phone use in crashes.”
Part of the problem, according to the report, is there’s no reliable method to determine how many crashes involve cell phone use. Police must often rely on drivers to admit this, which isn’t possible when the driver is severely injured, killed or withholds information.
Police might also not fully investigate cell phone use if it’s not a violation in their jurisdiction or if more obvious violations are involved such as speeding or driving under the influence.
