MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alva O. Ferdinand, DrPH, JD Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health College Station, TX   77843   MedicalResearch: What are the main findings of the study? Answer: Over the last decade, several states have enacted legislating making it illegal to text while driving. However, little is known about the impact that state texting-while-driving bans have had on roadway crash-related fatalities. Some states have banned all drivers from texting while driving while others have banned only young drivers from this activity. Furthermore, some states’ texting bans entail secondary enforcement, meaning an enforcement officer must have another reason to stop a vehicle before citing a driver for texting while driving, and other states’ texting bans entail primary enforcement, meaning an enforcement officer does not have to have another reason for stopping a vehicle. We conducted a longitudinal panel analysis examining within-state changes in roadway fatalities after the enactment of state texting-while-driving bans using roadway fatality data as captured in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System between 2000 and 2010. To further examined the impact of these bans on various age groups, as younger individuals are thought to engage in texting while driving more often than older individuals. States that had enacted texting-while-driving bans during the study period were considered “treatment” states and states that had not passed texting-while-driving bans were considered “control” states. We found that states with primary laws banning young drivers only saw an average of an 11% reduction in roadway following the enactment of such bans during the study period. States with primary laws banning all drivers were also associated with significant reductions for those aged 15 to 21 and those who were 65 years old or older. States with secondarily enforced bans, whether banning all drivers or young drivers only, did not see any significant reductions in roadway fatalities. (more…)