Many bypass law on driving while using cellphone

By SHELBY N. HEITZENRATER

BILLY LUDT and SARTAJ AUJLA

TheNewsOutlet.org

Even after four years, Tina Muslovski Yanssens of East Palestine can’t tell her father’s story without breaking down.

She’s told it hundreds of times — to high school students, state lawmakers, the governor, and safety councils — to anyone who will listen.

Her 56-year-old dad, Dave Muslovski, was run over and killed by a 19-year-old woman who was texting and driving. That was June 17, 2010.

“I remember them wheeling my grandfather up to the coffin and hearing him cry. He kept pleading with God. ‘Why didn’t you take me? I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to bury my children.’”

That is one of many scenes seared into Yanssens’ memory surrounding the tragedy of that June day. Her father was walking along Middletown Road in Springfield Township. It was part of a daily ritual in a plan to get healthy. He was 10 minutes from home.

After the funeral, Yanssens gave her 95-year-old grandfather, Constantine Muslovski, a T-shirt that read: “Don’t Text and Drive.” He wore it every day in the nursing home where he lived.

“Anybody that walked into his room, he would tell them, ‘Don’t text and drive. I lost my baby that way.’”

Yanssens wasn’t content with T-shirts. Along with other advocates, she successfully lobbied for passage of an anti-texting law in 2012.

The law forbids Ohio drivers from writing, sending or reading texts while driving or at a stoplight. Those younger than 18, known as novice drivers, aren’t allowed to use any electronic device, hand-held or hands-free.

Despite laws and slick ad campaigns, an investigation by The News Outlet found motorists in Northeast Ohio continue to use cellphones and smartphones at higher rates than those estimated by the federal government.

In 2012, the National Highway Safety Administration reported the number of people using hand-held cellphones while driving stayed unchanged from 2011 at 5 percent.

From 4 to 5 p.m. on three separate days, reporters for The News Outlet stood on highway overpasses in Akron, Youngstown and Cleveland, and counted cars and drivers on cellphones.

In Akron, 8 percent of drivers were spotted using cellphones. In Cleveland, the rate was 10 percent. In Youngstown, the rate jumped to 14 percent.

Phones and Accidents

The National Safety Council says 33 percent of all accidents involve cellphones.

That number might be too low, said Dave Pulay, transportation engineer for the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study.

“The number of distracted- driving crashes are probably underreported because it is hard for an officer to determine if there was a distraction unless the driver admits to it or a witness provides the information,” Pulay said.

It’s the same story on the national level, with no reliable way to determine who talks and drives, who texts and drives and how those actions lead to accidents.

“Distractions have been around since there’s been vehicles on the roadway,” said Sgt. Vincent Shirey of the Ohio Highway Patrol’s Department of Public Safety in Columbus. The difference is “we are educated and making folks more aware of the dangers of driving distracted and using the cellphone and texting.”

In 2013, between March and December, troopers wrote 200 citations for illegal cellphone use on state highways.

Sean Moriarty of Canton believes they aren’t diligent enough, however.

On Feb. 18, 2013, Moriarty was driving on state Route 8 with his wife when another driver merged onto the highway and sped across three lanes of busy traffic, nearly hitting Moriarty’s car and causing him to veer left and hit another driver in the far left lane. Moriarty, who said the speeding driver was texting, got the license plate number. But police did nothing.

“‘It’s his word against yours.’ That was exactly what they said,” Moriarty said.

Hands-free not danger-free

In 2012, the NHTSA reported that 3,328 people died in accidents caused by “distracted driving” in the U.S. Another 421,000 people were injured.

Meanwhile in 2013, the Ohio Department of Safety reported 912 injuries and 10 deaths in accidents involving cellphone use. An additional 172 injuries and six deaths were reported with “texting or emailing” listed as a contributing cause in the accident.

There’s bad news for people who think they will be safer if they use a hands-free device.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re texting or talking, or you using hands free or hand-held, it’s all about what it does with your mind,” said Michael Rosen of Akron, owner of IC Cellular.

Hands-free talking is just as distracting as holding a phone, says an October study by the University of Utah and the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

“Even though your car may be configured to support social media, texting and phone calls, it doesn’t mean it is safe to do so,” said David Strayer, study leader and psychology professor at the university. “The primary task should be driving. Things that take your attention away make you a poor driver and make the roads less safe.”

Rosen said people are addicted to their phones, and the problem won’t be solved “until methods of being able to treat people for cellphone addiction become a reality, and until people have serious or near serious accidents.”

Age is an Issue

Young drivers just don’t see the problem with using phones while driving, said Regina Spicer, owner of New Beginnings Driving School in Euclid.

“To them, it’s just a little gadget that doesn’t pose a threat,” Spicer said. “They don’t see the dangers, so they don’t take it seriously.”

In December 2011, the NHTSA released a distracted-driving survey on the attitudes and behaviors of 6,000 drivers, ages 18 and older. The survey found drivers, ages 18 to 20, were most likely to use their cellphones while driving. Also, 13 percent admitted to using a cellphone at the time of a crash or near crash. Of those, 8 percent were sending a text or email, 3 percent were reading a text or email, and 2 percent were talking on a phone.

Based on these findings, The News Outlet conducted a survey at the University of Akron.

Of the 188 people who participated, 97.9 percent said they regularly see other drivers using cellphones while driving; 91 percent have talked on cellphones while driving; and 65.4 percent texted while driving.

Also, 87.8 percent said cellphone use on the road concerns them, and 50 percent said that they don’t feel confident that they can multitask while driving.

Those who admitted to texting while driving said they do so rarely, usually at stoplights or when they are stopped in traffic.

“I’ve done it before, but nowadays I like to keep my phone in my pocket and not touch it until I’m finished driving,” said student Shane Gamble.

While texting seems taboo, most of those surveyed don’t view talking on a cellphone as being dangerous.

“I feel completely confident talking on the phone and driving, but not texting,” said Amanda Bowling, another Akron student.

Bowling said cellphones should have controls to prevent texting while driving.

While that technology might exist, Rosen said the Federal Communications Commission bans anything that would disable the ability of a phone to communicate. He blames that ban on pressure by the cellphone lobby.

Spicer said education is the key.

“I’m a big believer in education, and I think education is power, knowledge is power,” she said. “Yes, in the driving schools we talk about it, but it needs to be talked about more in a community. When you know better, you do better.”

Rosen said some of that education should come from the cellphone industry.

“The industry itself has not educated the general public on the use of the cellphone,” he said. “Today when you get your new cellphone, there is a little box on the cellphone that strictly says, ‘Don’t text and drive.’ That’s about the extent of the education.”

Spicer would reword that message: “Don’t die to text. It’s just not worth it.”

Yanssens has her own message: “I lost my best friend because someone else didn’t think … they would be in an accident. Their irresponsibility and selfishness destroyed my life. I can’t bring him back, but I would do anything to have him back.”

Contributors: Aubrey Barto and Jay Jackman.

TheNewsOutlet.org is a collaborative effort among the Youngstown State University journalism program, The University of Akron, Cuyahoga Community College and professional media outlets including, WYSU-FM Radio and The Vindicator, and The Beacon Journal and Rubber City Radio, both of Akron.