Teen Texting While Driving in Association With All-Driver and Young-Driver Cellphone Laws

Cellphone-related driver distraction claimed 402 lives, over 26,000 injuries, and $10 billion in economic costs including medical costs in 2022 in the United States. Young drivers exhibit a disproportionately higher prevalence of cellphone use while driving and are over-represented in traffic injuries. We assessed the impact of all-driver and young-driver cellphone laws on teen drivers' texting behaviors.

Participants were 110,193 high school students from the 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019 state Youth Risk Behavior Survey across 42 states. We utilized survey-weighted modified Poisson regression with robust standard errors to estimate the associations.

Approximately 54% of high school student drivers reported texting while driving monthly. The presence of both an all-driver texting law and a young-driver cellphone law was not associated with less texting while driving, compared to states without such laws. However, an all-driver comprehensive handheld ban, without a young-driver cellphone law, was associated with a 26% lower prevalence of texting while driving (adjusted prevalence ratio: 0.74, 95% confidence interval: 0.68-0.80) compared to states with an all-driver texting law and a young-driver cellphone law. In contrast, a young-driver cellphone law without an all-driver cellphone law was not associated with less texting (adjusted prevalence ratio: 1.04, 95% confidence interval: 0.98-1.11).

Young-driver cellphone laws showed limited effectiveness in reducing texting while driving, while all-driver handheld cellphone bans were effective. Our findings underscore the safety benefits of implementing all-driver handheld bans in the 22 states that have yet to enact such legislation.