Short-term Effects of a Teenage Driver Cell Phone Restriction

Published June 11, 2008

This academic study, conducted in 2008 by University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center Senior Research Scientist Robert D. Foss, PhD and Senior Research Associate Arthur Goodwin, sought to examine what—if any—behavioral changes occurred in young drivers after a recently enacted texting-while-driving ban in the state of North Carolina. Contrary to the predictions of regulators and advocacy groups, the new regulation did not change young drivers’ behavior in any significant manner.