Communications and Technology Industry Research

A new study has found that cell phone use among teenagers in North Carolina has gone up after the state enforced a cellphone ban on young drivers. This increase comes in light of the fact that young drivers and their parents have expressed strong support for the restrictions.

 

Both parties said they believe the ban on hand-held and hands-free phone usage is not being fully enforced.

 

The two-part study combined the observations of researchers with telephone surveys of teens and their parents to evaluate the cellphone law for young drivers. North Carolina has implemented the ban for drivers under the age of 18 as part of the state's graduated licensing system.

 

A month or two prior to the ban's official enforcement in Dec. 1, 2006, 11 percent of teen drivers were observed using cellphones upon leaving the school premises in the afternoon. Approximately 5 months after the ban was in effect, about 12 percent of them were observed using their phones. Most of them were using a hand-held device and less than 1 percent of the teen drivers were using hands-free devices.

 

The study also revealed that approximately 2 percent of them were seen dialing or texting and that cell phone use was steady at around 13 percent in control sites in South Carolina, where no restrictions are placed on teen driver cellphone usage.

 

"Most young drivers comply with graduated licensing restrictions such as limits on nighttime driving and passengers, even when enforcement is low," said Anne McCartt, Institute senior vice president for research and one of the authors of the study.

 

"The hope in North Carolina was that the same would hold true for cellphone use, but this wasn't the case. Teen drivers' cellphone use actually increased a little. Parents play a big role in compliance with graduated licensing rules. Limiting phone use may be tougher for them since many want their teens to carry phones."

 

At the time the survey conducted, after the restrictions were already in place, teenage drivers had more knowledge of the ban than did parents. However, parents showed greater support for the ban.

 

Also, around half of the teenagers surveyed admitted using their phones while driving on the day prior to the interview.