This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Logan woman talking on her cell phone died in 2004 with her 2-year-old son when she ran a stop sign and was struck by a dump truck in Box Elder County.
A 19-year-old Hurricane man talking on his cell phone was killed in 2005 when his car was struck by a pickup as he attempted to turn left.
And, two months ago, a teenage motorist reportedly talking on a cell phone ran a red light in Salt Lake City, killing a 16-year-old girl in another car.
Recent research by the University of Utah suggests that talking on a cell phone could cause impairment equal to that of driving drunk, and reports compiled by the the Utah Department of Public Safety show an increase in cell-phone-related crashes between 2003 and 2005 from 135 to 218.
Yet while these types of crashes have led Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County to ban city and county workers from using cell phones in their work vehicles, other governments - most notably the state - have not followed suit.
Politicians argue the merits of recent studies and individuals fiercely protect their rights, but another factor hampers proponents of limiting cell-phone use behind the wheel: Police say the role of cell phones in contributing to Utah traffic accidents is likely underreported.
"Not having hard data hurts," said Rep. Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville, who unsuccessfully sponsored a bill in 2001 that would have banned motorists from talking on cell phones and another in 2002 targeting inattentive drivers.
Unreliable statistics
Unless a driver in a crash acknowledges using a cell phone or a witness can attest to it, it's hard to know if a cell phone contributed to the accident, says Trooper Preston Raban, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Public Safety, which collects cell-phone data related to automobile accidents.
On Utah's standardized crash form, police officers can check a box indicating that a cell phone contributed to the crash. But an officer also could record "unknown" or "none" as the cause of a crash if a cell phone was involved but it can't be proven.
"We can't really effectively track it," Raban said.
Of the 69,539 car crashes recorded in 2004 and the 63,720 recorded in 2003, "drivers using cell phone" was listed as the cause of a crash only 0.2 percent of the time in both years.
If a police officer doesn't know what caused an accident, the officer would more than likely mark a box on the crash form called "driver distraction," or "improper lookout," said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lt. Paul Jaroscak.
While using a cell phone is not illegal, Jaroscak said, if a driver crashes while violating a specific law, such as speeding, the driver would be cited.
Salt Lake County Risk Manager Jeff Rowley said the county "unfortunately doesn't track accidents down to the level whether they were caused by someone on a cell phone." But he does think the county's cell-phone ban for employees has contributed to the overall decrease in the number of county-owned vehicles involved in third-party car crashes.
In 2006, the county recorded 118 crashes, overall, compared with 130 in 2005. So far this year there have been 35. At that rate, there will only be 88 by year's end.
Disagreeing on the danger
In addition to spotty statistics, studies on the role cell phones play in accidents have so far left room for officials to disagree.
University of Utah research suggests that while drunken drivers and drivers who use cell phones exhibited different problems, both experienced trouble in overall traffic safety.
Richard Lewis, a motorcycle patrol sergeant for the Salt Lake City Police Department, disagrees. He argues drunken driving is much more dangerous.
Cell-phone use, he said, is a momentary loss of attention ''compared to driving physically impaired" by alcohol.
A study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Virginia Transportation Research Council found that the most common distraction for drivers is the use of the cell phone.
But the study also found cell phone use is no more dangerous than other driver distractions.
About 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involve some form of driver inattention within three seconds before a crash. Dialing or reaching for a phone nearly triples the risk of a crash - the same risk as reading or applying makeup, according to the NHTSA.
Looking out the window at objects increases the risk of crash by 3.7 times, while driving while drowsy increases the risk by a factor of four. Merely talking on a phone, however, increases the risk of crash by just 30 percent, according to the NHTSA study.
"A distraction is a distraction," Jaroscak said, "whether it's changing a CD or putting your arm around your girlfriend."
Tough to legislate
Legislation attempting to curb driver distractions has been hard to pass not only in Utah but other states as well.
"Some people feel like they don't want government in their cars," Holdaway said.
Roger Livingston, the director of Utah's Division of Risk Management, said he has been looking at the issue and studying the policies of cities, counties and school districts that have already adopted changes. But he doesn't expect any policy changes anytime soon.
Lewis said he hopes Mayor Rocky Anderson's decision to ban city workers from using phones will make motorists aware of the potential danger of talking and driving, though he acknowledges he "can't really say if there's been an increase [in cell-phone crashes] or if that's causing a lot of problems."
The Governors Highway Safety Association said legislators should not rely on the NHTSA study to enact new legislation.
"It is simply not good policy to enact laws addressing every type of driver behavior," the association states on its Web site.