This year marks the third year of Evanston’s ban on hand-held cell phones while driving. Recognizing distracted driving as a significant public safety issue, Evanston made the passage of this measure a priority for the safety of motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians on Evanston streets. The Evanston City Council unanimously passed the ordinance in January 2010 with an effective date of March 2010.
Evanston has witnessed a significant reduction in motor vehicle crashes since enactment of its ban on hand-held devices while driving. Traffic data collected by the Evanston Police Department shows a 17% reduction in all roadway crashes from 2009 (before the ban) through 2012, with 416 fewer roadway crashes in that time period. More critically, Evanston has experienced a significant reduction in injury crashes: a 14.5% drop from 2009 through 2012.
"The purpose of Evanston's ordinance, our enforcement and educational efforts, is to promote attentive driving and address what experts consider to be an epidemic of impaired driving due to cell phone use behind the wheel," said Alderman Jane Grover (7th Ward), sponsor of the ordinance. "The improvement in Evanston's crash rate is certainly good news, which I attribute in large part to our police traffic unit's vigilant enforcement effort."
While is difficult to make a causal connection between Evanston’s cell phone ban and the decrease in the crash rate, the ban, its enforcement and additional educational initiatives have generated increased awareness in Evanston about the dangers of distracted driving.
Over the last three years, the Evanston Police Department has issued more than 7,000 tickets to motorists driving while also operating a hand-held device. The ordinance imposes a $50 fine, with an additional potential penalty of $200 if the cell phone violation is implicated in an auto crash.
"The enforcement efforts by Evanston Police since the enactment of the hands-free driving ordinance have clearly shown that eliminating the usage of a hand-held device while operating a motor vehicle reduces accidents, which in turn makes our streets safer for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists," said Evanston Police Commander Jay Parrott.
The Evanston Police Department’s Traffic Management Bureau has incorporated distracted driving into its traffic safety initiatives and has issued 80% of the tickets for violation of the cell phone ban. In 2011, Evanston’s Traffic Management Bureau received awards from both the International and Illinois Associations of Chiefs of Police for its creative and effective traffic safety programs, which included the bureau’s efforts to curb distracted driving.
Evanston has sought to increase attentive driving through educational initiatives, as well as enforcement. Signs at Evanston’s gateways give notice to drivers of the cell phone ban. In April 2011, the city hosted a Distracted Driving Summit at Evanston Township High School and brought together an array of local experts from the National Safety Council, FocusDriven, AAA, Evanston's American Defensive Driving School, the Evanston Police Department and Northwestern University’s Traffic Safety School for panel discussions about cognitive impairment, enforcement strategies, educating new drivers and employer policies.
In addition, Evanston's Police Traffic Bureau has conducted localized enforcement of the cell phone ban in and around Evanston Township High School and plans to conduct another campaign in collaboration with the high school this fall.
Illinois law bans texting while driving statewide and has banned cell phone use in school and construction zones, by those under 19 years of age and those with a learner’s permit, as well as school bus drivers. Some other area municipalities that have joined Evanston in seeking to curb distracted driving include Chicago, Winnetka, Highland Park, Lake Forest, Deerfield, Waukegan and Glencoe. These municipalities now have some form of ban on cell phone use while driving. Statewide, there are now 76 communities that ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving. Evanston's ordinance (click here>>> to view the ordinance) also bans texting while driving and prohibits web browsing or listening to voice mail while driving. The city ordinance permits drivers to talk on the phone while driving if they use a hands-free device.
According to the National Safety Council (NSC), there have been 380,669 crashes so far this year involving texting drivers. Additionally, the NSC conducted a national survey (click here here>>> to read the survey) in 2012 in which they found that drivers age 18 to 20 have the highest incidence of self-reported crash or near-crash experiences compared to all other age groups and the highest incidence of phone involvement at the time of the crash or near-crash.
Texting while driving has now replaced drunk driving as the number one cause of teenage deaths on the road in the U.S. according to research by the Cohen Children's Medical Center in New York. They found that more than 300,000 teens are injured and more than 3,000 die each year as a result of texting while driving. In comparison, 282,000 are injured and 2,700 teenagers are killed as a result of drunk driving.
"What should concern all of us is the next generation of drivers who have grown up watching adults operate phones and cars at the same time and won't know to put their phone down when they take the wheel. The lesson for all of us: just drive. No call or text message is more important than the life of any other driver, pedestrian or cyclist," concluded Alderman Grover.
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