WVU Healthcare - Laws, education not enough to curb distracted driving

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Admit it or not, most of us are guilty of having fiddled with a cell phone while behind the wheel. As West Virginia and other states take measures to keep drivers from texting and talking while driving, a new report from researchers at the West Virginia University School of Public Health asserts the laws probably aren’t making much impact on the number of injuries caused by distracted driving.

“Keeping an Eye on Distracted Driving,” appears in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), released online today. The paper was co-authored by Jeffrey H. Coben, M.D., interim dean of the WVU School of Public Health, andMotao Zhu, M.D., Ph.D. Both study public health and safety topics through WVU’s Injury Control Research Center.