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Short-term impacts of all-driver handheld cellphone bans on high-schoolers’ texting while driving: quasi-experimental analyses of Illinois and Georgia
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Short-term impacts of all-driver handheld cellphone bans on high-schoolers’ texting while driving: quasi-experimental analyses of Illinois and Georgia

Marco H. Benedetti, David C. Schwebel, Bo Lu, Toni M. Rudisill, Gary A. Smith and Motao Zhu
Accident analysis and prevention, Vol.184, pp.107014-107014
05/01/2023
DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2023.107014
PMCID: PMC11744736
PMID: 36858001

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Abstract

•Teen drivers are more likely than their older counterparts to text while driving (TWD).•Teen cellphone bans with all-driver texting bans are common in the United States.•Georgia and Illinois recently changed to all-driver handheld phone bans.•We compared changes in teen TWD in GA and IL to control states via difference-in-differences.•Both GA and IL experienced short-term reductions in teen TWD relative to control states. Teen drivers are more likely than their older counterparts to engage in distracted driving. Many states prohibit cellphone use for teen drivers, but only prohibit texting for all drivers. Evidence that these laws have been effective is mixed. We hypothesize that recent policy changes in Georgia and Illinois from teen cellphone bans with all-driver texting bans to all-driver handheld phone bans yielded short-term reductions in teen texting while driving. We analyzed Youth Risk Behavior Surveys in Georgia, Illinois, and control states North Carolina and Michigan. We estimated the reduction in texting while driving associated with policy changes via difference-in-differences models. In Illinois, 45.4 % of high school drivers texted while driving in 2013. After a 2014 policy change to an all-driver handheld ban, the percentage decreased in 2015 to 41.8 %, and decreased further in 2017 to 37.7 %. The adjusted DID estimate comparing Illinois to Michigan from 2013 to 2017 was −8.3 % (95 % CI: −15.5 % 1.1 %; p-value = 0.025). In Georgia, the percentage decreased from 37.5 % before the law to 30.8 % after, and the adjusted DID estimate comparing Georgia to North Carolina was −10.8 % (95 % CI: −19.0 %, −2.5 %; p-value = 0.011) than in North Carolina. Results support all-driver handheld phone bans to improve traffic safety for high school drivers.
 Cellphone policy Difference-in-differences Distracted driving Teen driving Texting while driving Traffic safety

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