Four small towns and several counties across the country have banned the use of cellphones while driving. There are risks in using cellphones, and they are real. But they do not seem to be large compared to the other risks people face on the road,'' says Josh Cohen, a senior research associate who worked on the study. Mass. They also analyzed existing research, including a Canadian study that found the risk of having a minor accident was four times higher when a motorist is talking on a phone. There are fewer fatalities involving cellphones because most calls are made during rush hour when people are driving at fairly moderate speeds, Cohen says.
Most accidents involving alcohol, on the other hand, are high-speed crashes at night.
From discussions with the focus groups, Harvard researchers found the benefits of using cellphones outweighed the risks. The benefits cited include improved peace of mind, ability to contact emergency service and reduce the response time, increased productive time and more effective apprehension of drunken drivers. The researchers also say it would be more cost effective to reduce driving fatalities by lowering the speed limit from 65 to 55 in rural areas than by restricting cellular phone use.