You know how when you're driving and you look to your side and you see another driver that is currently on the phone while driving. In the year 2020, over 3,000 people were killed because of distracted driving. Because of the risks that come along with distracted driving, many states have banned texting and calling while driving. That is up to one year in a county jail. They also suspend driver licenses of teenagers that are caught texting while driving. On September 1st 2017, Texas banned distracted driving and made it illegal. A scientist, John Senders, conducted a study to assess how long it takes for a driver to move their focus from the road to their phone. At that point, phones weren't a thing but other roadside distractions existed like having a conversation with passengers, roadside hypnotization and etc. In 1997, a long time after cell phones had come out, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducted a study to see how many people get distracted by their phones while on the road. It turned out that 9/10 uses their phones while driving. More studies were made and after the same results, different states started working on laws on how to restrict the use of cell phones on the road and the first to accomplish that was New York. More than 41 states proposed similar plans but failed to make it a law. Even with the ban, it wasn't easy to limit the use of cellphones. The biggest obstruction to the law were the lobbying groups which were represented the wireless telephone companies that suggest mass education campaigns would be better than a complete ban and they had proof to support their claim. In a traffic accident study conducted by AAA, it was found out that fiddling with the radio causes the more deaths than talking on a cellphone between the years 1995 to 1999. In a 2009 study by the IIHS, it was found that around 45% of drivers in the age group of 18-24 years text on their phones in states that bans the practice. Also, a study performed by the AAA Foundation in 2015, proved that 58% of teen crashes were caused by distractions and that cell phones usage was the highest distraction. In conclusion, many legislators felt that people can get more distracted from eating or talking to their kid than using a cell phone. So a ban on cell phone usage really wouldn't do anything. However, as the years go on, the usage of cell phones while driving as gone down considerably. Even with all that, it is difficult to assess the direct influence of cell phones on accidents because people don't admit that their distractions caused the accident. 20 years isn't enough to see the actually impact of a law on the safety of drivers especially when the use of cell phones remains highly unreported. But if texting can take your eye off the road for 4.6 seconds, which about the amount of time needed to cross a football field, that should be enough to tell you that texting on the road is dangerous.
References:
1: https://healinglaw.com/blog/cellphone-driving-laws/