Cell Phones Increase Risk of Accident

Starting July 1, 2007, teenaged Virginia drivers will no longer be allowed to talk on a cell phone while driving. The new law prohibits the use of cell phones, even if they are hands-free. It also prohibits text-messaging.


This adds to the restrictions on young Virginia drivers. Those under the age of 18 are issued provisional licenses and have other restrictions, such as curfews also.

Virginia joins the District of Columbia, and several other states who have either fully or partially banned the use of cell phones while driving.


A study done at the University of Utah in 2006 found that driving while talking on a cell phone is just as dangerous as driving while intoxicated. The study, published in Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society tested drivers in a driving simulator under four conditions: without distraction, with a handheld cell phone, with a hands-free cell phone, and while intoxicated with a .08 BAC (the legal limit in Virginia). Drivers on cell phones drove more slowly, braked more slowly, and were more likely to crash.

In the study, all three of the participants who crashed their cars were on the cell phone – not drunk. This is not to say that drunk driving is safe. It just goes to show how dangerous it is to talk on the phone and not pay full attention to the road.


Another study performed at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, found that talking on a cell phone while driving increased your chance of crashing or nearly crashing by about 33 percent. This study did not account for the added risk of dialing the phone or text messaging, which require the driver to take his eyes off the road.


One final study, from 2005, determined that drivers were as much as four times as likely to crash while on the phone than they were when not distracted. This study interviewed 456 crash victims shortly after they were treated in hospital emergency rooms. The study also found that hands-free devices do not eliminate the added risk of crashing.

The law will be enforced as a secondary violation, similar to Virginia’s seatbelt laws. This means that officers will not pull teenagers over for talking on the cell phone, but may write a cell phone ticket if the driver has also been speeding.

©2009 Weisberg & Zaleski, P.C., All Rights Reserved, Reproduced with Permission
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