The IIHS is backing its findings with data regarding insurance claims filed in four states before and after texting ban and compares them with patterns of claims in nearby states. The states in question are California, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Washington.
In three of the four states, the adoption of texting ban legislation led to the increase in the number of insurance claims. According to the IIHS, this means only one thing: drivers continue to text despite the ban and possibly at an even higher rate.
"Texting bans haven't reduced crashes at all. In a perverse twist, crashes increased in 3 of the 4 states we studied after bans were enacted. It's an indication that texting bans might even increase the risk of texting for drivers who continue to do so despite the laws," said Adrian Lund, president of the IIHS.
The IIHS says the texting ban will be pretty much forever ineffective, because the states focus on eliminating one single cause for distraction while completely ignoring the others. Proof to that is the fact that the increase in the number of crashes after the enactment of the texting bans increased by in between 1 and 9 percent.
"Neither texting bans nor bans on hand-held phone use have reduced crash risk," Lund added.
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