Researchers at the University of Iowa’s Injury Prevention Research Center and the Transportation Research Injury Prevention Safety Lab have found a complete ban on cellphone use while driving, except for voice-activated technology, can improve safety.

Cara Hamann, the director of both the Education and Training Core at the Injury Prevention Research Center and the Transportation Research Injury Prevention Safety Lab, said there has been a large increase in fatalities attributed to distracted driving between 2023 and 2024 with 24 in 2023 and 41 in 2024.

“We know that distracted driving is a significant contributor to traffic crashes in the U.S.,” Hamann said.” Distraction is attributed to about 8 percent of all fatal crashes, 12 percent of injury crashes, and 11 percent of all police-reported crashes. That is probably underreported because one problem we have with the data is it’s really hard to prove distraction played a role in a lot of cases.”

Across the country, studies have shown there has been an increase in deaths and injuries due to distracted driving.

Back in 2017, Iowa passed a law that banned drivers from texting while driving but allowed drivers to use their phones for other reasons, such as for making calls or using GPS. To prevent this, the Iowa legislature is working toward passing a potential bill that will ban the use of cellphones while driving this legislative session.

Both UI research centers conduct tests and surveys that cover a wide variety of driving-related topics, such as bicycle and pedestrian safety, teen drivers, rural road safety, farm equipment safety, and more.

Hamann’s research mostly focuses on road traffic safety along with injury prevention. In addition, Hamann and her team have looked at the different types of distraction-related laws, nationwide statistics, and statistics in Iowa.

Hamann said texting bans and simply informing people about the dangers are not enough to solve the problem. Instead, she believes it’s crucial for a combination of legislation, enforcement, and public education to prevent distracted driving.

“In Iowa right now, we have a texting ban, but you can still hold your phone in your hand and talk on your phone, and that’s legal,” Hamann said. “But the research we have done that has looked at texting bans versus hands-free laws, where no manipulation for your phone is allowed, really shows that the texting bans don’t move the needle very much.”

Hamman said she and her team will continue to conduct research on the dangers of distracted driving, specifically surrounding systems built into vehicles, such as Apple Carplay.

“I think there’s a bit of a gap in research there in terms of those systems or plugging your phone into your car,” Hamann said. “It’s really just moving the manipulation of it from touching the phone to touching the screen in your car, and I think there’s still a lot of questions about the effects there, and these hands-free laws don’t really touch that.”

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Ryan Dusil, a research associate at the UI’s Injury Prevention Research Center in the TRIPS lab, discussed his work on traffic safety, particularly for vulnerable road users like bicyclists and pedestrians.

“About 20 percent of the deaths in distracted driving crashes are people outside of the vehicle, so that includes people on rural roads, people in work zones, motorcycles, bikes, pedestrians,” Dusil said.

Dusil also highlighted the importance of educating drivers on safe driving practices, specifically teen drivers.

“I think [driver education] is certainly important for teen drivers,” Dusil said. “I think that there’s probably value in more awareness around some of the safety features that phones do have around us”

Around Iowa City and Johnson County, distracted driving is still prevalent in the community, but numbers have gone down.

According to the 2023 Annual Report from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, the amount of texting-while driving-citations decreased from 54 in 2022 to 48 in 2023.

Iowa City Police Department Captain Scott Gaarde said there are several challenges when it comes to addressing distracted driving, as there are numerous potential distractions in modern vehicles.

“[The Iowa City Police Department] tries to use educational forms as much as we can but fully recognize that devices are such a commonplace in today’s society,” Gaarde said. “It’s absolutely important to make people aware of the consequences, not only from the judicial system but the safety aspect as well, too.”