Two years ago, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 288, which made handheld device use while driving a primary traffic offense. This shift in policy was intended to strengthen enforcement and reduce the frequency of auto crashes tied to phone use. Under these rules, officers no longer need another traffic violation to stop a driver for using or holding a phone.
Is this change actually making roads safer?
What does the data say?
Early data suggests promising consequences stemming from the shift. One year after enactment, a report by Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) found an 8.6 % drop in phone motion–based distracted driving across Ohio since the law took effect. That translates to likely prevention of thousands of distracted driving crashes, injuries and even fatalities.
Some state-level analyses also report a decline in crashes involving distraction when comparing periods before and after the law’s implementation. Two years out, the Ohio State Highway Patrol reports that “the average number of crashes in Ohio has dropped by 8%, injuries are down 3%, and traffic fatalities have declined by 4% since the law took effect.”
Qualifying this great news, just a bit
These statistics are certainly great news. However, the picture of how the law is impacting the state overall is not entirely conclusive. In a time series study focused on Columbus, results were mixed: while some periods showed statistically significant reductions in crashes, others showed increases or no meaningful change. Because of these inconsistencies, the author cautions against drawing strong conclusions just yet.
Part of the challenge lies in the difficulty of isolating the law’s effect from other factors. Traffic volumes, enforcement intensity, public awareness campaigns and seasonal effects all influence crash rates. Unless these variables are carefully controlled, attributing change solely to the statute is tenuous. This is precisely what the Columbus study attempted—but even then, it could not deliver a decisive verdict.
So, are Ohio’s new distracted driving laws working? The early indicators are encouraging—behavioral data shows a reduction in phone use, and some crash statistics lean favorably. But the mixed results in localized studies caution restraint in proclaiming success. Perhaps the governor has said it best, “We’re certainly seeing less distracted driving than before the law went into effect, but we still have a long way to go.”