Educating drivers on safer use of cell phones preferable than total ban

Melbourne, April 12 (ANI): A Swedish study has found that there is no reason to ban texting or talking on cell phones while driving.

A report by the Swedish National Road and Transport Institute (VTI) - based in Linkoping, southern Sweden - found that educating drivers on the safer use of the devices was preferable to a total ban.

"It is our opinion that a combination of different countermeasures - which educate and inform the driver, while at the same time support him or her in a safe usage of communication devices - is preferable to a law against communication device usage while driving," the Herald Sun quoted the reported as stating.

"We've seen that it doesn't help to have such a law while driving. This is partly because we've seen that people wouldn't adhere to the law and partly because we've seen no effect on crash risks," Katja Kircher, of VTI, told Sveriges Radio.

In October last year, a VTI study found that there was no long-term traffic safety impact for countries that allowed cell phone use with hands-free equipment.

Sweden is one of a handful of European countries to allow the use of cell phones while driving without hands-free devices. Others include Albania, Serbia, Moldova and Malta. (ANI)