Mobile phone technology has revolutionized the way we live. It is also changing the way we drive — for the worse, according to highway safety experts.
In 2015, traffic fatalities had their biggest spike nationally in half a century. During that year, federal data shows that 3,477 people were killed in distraction-affected crashes, a nearly 9 percent increase from the previous year.
The spike was reflected in Massachusetts, where a distracted driver was involved in 21 percent of the state’s 291 fatal crashes, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.
Just as distressing is that 72 pedestrians were killed in Massachusetts in 2015, accounting for 23 percent of the state’s traffic fatalities, far exceeding the national rate of 15 percent.
The figures are ringing alarms for people like Jeff Larason, director of the state’s Highway Safety Division, who told the Gazette last week that an increased number of drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists also may be contributing factors, distracted driving plays a significant role in crash-related deaths and injuries. He and other highway safety experts say they believe the problem likely will get even worse because of drivers’ increasing dependence on their mobile devices.
“It’s an addiction,” Larason told the Gazette. “… It’s endemic in our society.”
To fight the problem, the state’s Highway Safety Division is launching an educational campaign along with ongoing law enforcement efforts as part of the National Safety Council’s “Distracted Driving Awareness Month” in April. The division will focus on an educational campaign warning motorists about the risks of distracted driving, a strategy that had success in previous campaigns against drunken driving.
The state also continues to disburse grants of between $10,000 to $12,000 to local police departments, including eight in Hampshire County this year, for enforcement of laws regulating distracted driving and other types of motor vehicle violations in communities with high crash rates. The money helps cover the overtime costs involved with data-driven, high-visibility enforcement on the roads, including police officers working together to identify and then stop distracted drivers.
Since a texting-and-driving ban went into effect in Massachusetts in 2010, distracted driving violations have soared from 1,893 to 9,432 in 2016, according to data from the state’s Merit Rating Board. The law in Massachusetts bans texting and driving and prohibits novice drivers from using cellphones. However, drivers are still permitted to talk on their cellphones, unlike the neighboring states of Connecticut, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont which ban handheld cellphone use.
Emerging research using federal crash data suggests that laws banning texting and driving are associated with decreasing the number of fatalities and hospitalizations resulting from crashes. But in states with bans on handheld cellphone use, evidence shows that a combination of education, legislation and enforcement has helped to reduce the overall rate of distracted driving, according to traffic safety officials in those states.
Given this growing body of evidence, and the widespread acknowledgement that distracted-related crashes are not only difficult to track but are likely widely underreported, Massachusetts legislators should take a hard look at the current laws to address growing concerns from highway safety experts.
Senate President Stanley Rosenberg of Amherst favored a bill last year that would have prohibited in-vehicle use of devices without hands-free technology, though it died in the House. Another bill was introduced this year by state Sen. Cynthia Creem, D-Newton, which is before the Transportation Committee.
As the state ramps up its education and enforcement campaigns to deter distracted driving and the dangers it poses, lawmakers need to step up their game to ensure they are doing all they can legislatively to discourage use of mobile devices on the state’s roads. Ultimately, it is drivers who need to take responsibility for their behavior, as they control what goes on behind the wheel, laws or no laws.