A California researcher has entered the acrimonious debate over mobile phones by predicting that banning the use of hand-held phones by U.S. drivers could save thousands of lives each year.In a study released Monday, Jed Kolko, a fellow at the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California, estimated that 300 fewer people will die each year in traffic accidents as a result of a pending hand-held cell-phone ban for California drivers. More than 4,000 people die in traffic accidents in the state every year.
Most of those lives will saved when the roads are wet or the weather is bad, said Kolko, who came to his conclusions after poring over data from the handful of states that have banned the use of hand-held phones while driving.
Although he prepared no estimate for how many lives would be saved nationwide if hand-held phone use by drivers was banned in all states, Kolko said, “You’d be safe to say several thousand.”
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