Re: Why do people claim cellphone use increased the USA accident rate?

From	badgolferman <REMOVETHISbadgolferman@gmail.com>
Newsgroups	misc.phone.mobile.iphone, comp.mobile.android
Subject	Re: Why do people claim cellphone use increased the USA accident rate?
Date	2026-09-18 00:43 +0000
Message-ID	<118i1fp$co61$1@solani.org> (permalink)
References	<118hm1r$3s0$1@nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com>

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> wrote:
> Why do people claim cellphone use increased the accident rate in the USA?
> 
> In a recent thread c.m.a/m.p.m.i on various carplay, androidauto, android
> automotive and screen mirroring (sonicboom) solutions, an offshoot tangent
> occurred when we theorized why factories don't just make automotive dash
> systems a phone mirror so that a familiar interface is always on the dash.
> 
> Like this:
>  <https://i.postimg.cc/k5gv0yw8/vysor34.jpg> Apple iOS & Android mirroring
> 
> Some brought up technical issues, but really, there are none, while others
> brought up safety issues, and for that, I'm sure there are legal issues.
> 
> But, are those legal issues valid?
> 
> Q: Why do people claim cellphone use increased the USA accident rate?
> A: ?
> 
> Note we're restricting this to the USA only because accurate data has been
> compiled by the USA government on accident rates over the past 100 years.
> 
> Note 1: Accident propaganda from the following will be deeply analyzed:
>       a. Law firms
>       b. Insurance companies
>       c. Law enforcement claims & politician claims 
> 
> Note 2: Accident *rate* is what matters, not any given number of accidents,
>       over the period where cellphone ownership went from 0% to ~100%
> 
> Note 3: Fatalities and injuries, while deeply emotional, do not count
>       (because they are a second-order effect *after* the accident).
> 
> Note 4: Nobody claims "distracted driving" doesn't cause a large number
>        of accidents but distractions existed prior to cell phones and 
>        distractions exist after cell phone became predominate, and yet, 
>        in all the accurate accident-rate statistics, the rate simply
>        slowly trended downward year after year, before, during & after.
> 
> Note 5: Paradoxically, cellphone hands-free laws were enacted in most     
>        states but there is absolutely no correlation with accident rates 
>        in those states, before, during or after the laws went into force.
> 
> There was no blip whatsoever, in USA accident rate (for which accurate
> statistics have been kept for over a century) which tells the true story.
> 
> Given that, the question becomes... 
> Q: Why do people claim cellphone use increased the USA accident rate?
> A: ?

You’ve brought this topic up before. 

As someone who works in the science field, I can assure you statistics
don’t always tell the truth. The criteria are often cherry picked, the data
can easily be skewed if not collected in a controlled environment, and the
biases of the researchers often provide conclusions not necessarily
consistent with the raw data. 

I think it’s pretty obvious if you look at drivers around you that
distracted driving is out of control and in turn it leads to erratic
driving. I trust personal anecdotes more than statistics in this case.

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