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Last Words
Calif. Changes Cell Phone Crash Data
by Yahoo
10/11/2002
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Release has been delayed of a report that blames cell phone use in 913 highway accidents in 2001. Officials believe the figure should be about seven times higher.
The report, given to Gov. Gray Davis (news - web sites) last week, has been returned to the California Highway Patrol after the agency learned the numbers may have been too low, Commissioner Dwight O. Helmick told the Los Angeles Times for Sunday editions.
The new report will include data showing drivers using cell phones had been blamed for at least 4,699 accidents. "We're not changing any of our conclusions," Helmick said. "It's just adding additional data that might make it clearer for everybody."
The report, which has not been made public, was ordered last year by the Legislature to assist in a debate on whether the state should require handsfree cell phones.
The report counted only 913 accidents in 2001 in which officers indicated cell phone use was to blame. Three involved fatalities.
But a Times analysis of traffic accident data showed the total would be higher if the CHP included all accidents in which the driver responsible for the crash was using a cell phone.
These figures suggest at least 4,699 accidents could be blamed on drivers using cell phones. In those accidents, 31 people died.
Because the data producing the higher figures was collected for only nine months of 2001, the number of accidents involving cell phones could be well over 6,000 for the full year, the Times said.
"Without a doubt, there's something wrong there," Helmick said. "Clearly the numbers do not look right, nor do I think they're right."
Read the full article at Yahoo
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